Austin Symphony Orchestra: Dance Fever
Bass Concert Hall, November 5
Dance was the theme for this performance by Austin’s flagship orchestra, with several selections of music inspired by or composed for the dance, including Grand Motion, a newly commissioned work by local singer/songwriter/ composer Darden Smith, with an attendant multimedia performance by Austin’s Johnson/Long Dance Company.
Conductor Peter Bay continues to beam his impish, energetic presence when he leads his musicians through a program. Starting with Stravinsky’s orchestration of Chopin’s Grande Valse Brillante, with its marked counterpoint and humorous streaks, Bay appeared to be dancing himself on the conductor’s rostrum. He was ebullient leading selections by Zoltán Kodály and Leonard Bernstein.
Grand Motion, the evening’s central piece, highlights the Austin Symphony’s shifting focus to include more new work and more local work in its programming. No one could accuse ASO of being a museum act, with its keen interest in performances of many styles from many eras. In commissioning local artist Smith, the symphony bares something of a cutting edge, a welcome adventurousness in its musical spirit. The work itself, while sensuous and rhythmic, is not blockbuster material. But some passages flowed quite beautifully, others with the sobriety and seriousness of a deeply felt imperative — there is much promise here. Smith’s choice to sing some passages allowed his bluesy voice to help color the plaintive air about the piece.
Unfortunately, the musical portion of Grand Motion was encumbered by the disappointing and often simplistic work of the Johnson/Long Dance Company. Although resident lighting designer Tim Poertner creatively included the orchestra among his lighted subjects, other elements of the dance lacked the flair or precision of the lights. Andrew Long’s laptop-tapping opening to the musical piece was as out of place as his textual additions, projected onto the walls in sequence on opposite sides of the stage: a ping-pong of banality. The opening dance sequences offered repetitive movement, uninspiring in the use of space or the music’s poetry. Some bright spots remained: Nicole Wesley’s strength, grace, and presence that make her such a joy to watch; Darla Johnson’s fluid work; and the last two sections that finally saw movement in tune with the musical environment, although, here too the dancing was betrayed by an evident imprecision among an ensemble of unequally gifted dancers.
The highlight of the evening was the evocative and passionate Kodály work, Marosszèk Dances, the melodies of which the composer studied firsthand while touring in the Marosszèk region of his native Hungary. Nestled in the Carpathian mountains, part of Transylvania, the region is a rugged one. This four-part work evoked a haunting and spritely, moody and colorful landscape, accompanied by the unfathomable power of melodies that hail from so magical (and daunting) a place. The symphony, and Bay, took to this stirring music well, with soloists featured in turns as if round a dark forest campfire: violin, double bass, horn, and flute exploring pieces of the passionate dance. The bat that suddenly appeared and winged about Bass Concert Hall was only further proof of the authenticity of Kodály’s music and ASO’s zestful approach to it.
Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances From West Side Story conveyed similar passion and provided the symphony with something energetic and fun to close out a rather mixed evening (Menuet antique, the somnambulant Ravel piece which preceded the Bernstein, was flat, at best). But with the Symphonic Dances the musicians had a robust work to play, and play with it they did, including several theatrical touches like the ubiquitous finger snaps of the cool gang members and macho shouts from the Sharks and Jets confrontation. The lovely conclusion to the piece saw the reprise of the melody to “Somewhere,” woven from the tense drama of the Rumble. Bay clearly enjoys the modern era’s varied riches (all the night’s selections were 20th-century pieces), and the symphony should be applauded for mining them with such enthusiasm.
This article appears in November 12 • 1999.