Music Review: TSO strikes right chord with Barber and Brahms

The Samuel Barber Violin Concerto has become a part of the accepted symphonic repertoire in the United States and throughout the world, no longer winced at as atonal or “too modern.” Both soloist Ning Kam and the audience at last Thursday night’s Tucson Symphony Orchestra took to it warmly.

Kam, a native of Singapore with strong educational roots in the U.S., is a violinist of massive ability — far beyond her diminutive stature and youth. Her playing was vigorous, emotional and exciting. She brought with her an instrument of incredible quality — a 1730 Guarnerius violin on loan from its Singapore collectors. Its tone and range were in themselves worth the price of admission. One wanted to hear and savor each bowing. Sadly, a few were lost.

Excessive dynamics from the woodwind and brass sections occasionally overwhelmed the solo instrument, volume more appropriate for accompanying the piano than a violin. For the most part, however, the priceless instrument responded incredibly in the hands of the soloist and brought forth the beauty that such an instrument has held within it for over 250 years.

The big piece of the evening was the Brahms “Symphony No. 1.” The orchestra’s size was big and they played it big and well. Sometimes the opening movement seems interminable, typically long in the Brahms manner, but the November 20th concert’s opening tympani beats and full orchestra set a dynamic but not overly dramatic tone to the piece, and one could follow the off beats and cross rhythms as they built to the preliminary climaxes without the tedium audiences sometimes complain about with Brahms.

In his pre-concert remarks, Director George Hanson admitted that the opening of the symphony is what drew him to it, but his love of the dramatic was appropriately controlled until Brahms told us it was time. The reading was well done and the audience was rewarded for staying after the interval. Subscribers in other cities are not always so respectful of the composer who was once called “the classical composer born too late.” In the first symphony he seems more an prescient voice of Romanticism. His honorary doctorate from the University of Breslau really says it all — “To the leading master of serious music in Germany.”

The concert opened with Aaron Copland’s “Suite from Our Town,” taken from his film score based on Wilder’s play. It is pure Copland, avoiding the huge, sweeping epic-like scores done by Korngold and others for Hollywood in the 30s and 40s and is perfect for the minimalistic play probably studied by most of the members of the audience somewhere around 11th grade. It was played with a small orchestra, as is fitting, and was so very evocative of “Our Town.”

One could clearly visualize the residents of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire walking Main Street, going through their ordinary lives, their joys and their sorrows. Though a rather quiet, unassuming overture to the concert, the Copland contrasted well with the flashy Barber and the huge Brahms and turned out to be a very pleasant segue from the cares of the day into some major music of the evening.

Future TSO events at www.tucsonsymphony.org. Box office (520) 792-9155.

Contact Behnke at Donald.Behnke@yahoo.com.