Schubert, Kyr, and Strauss: Carlos Kalmar, cond., Oregon Symphony, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland, OR, 19.5.2007 (BJ)

 

Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben made a suitably resounding end to Carlos Kalmar’s fourth season as music director, amply demonstrating his virtuoso on the podium, his charm as a commentator on the music he was presenting, and the general excellence of his Oregon Symphony. The first half of the program had begun with a searching performance of Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony, with nicely differentiated tempos for the two movements, sweet if not especially rich-toned string playing, and some eloquent solos from the wind and brass sections.

Between those two pillars of the repertoire, the orchestra offered the seemingly expertly played world premiere (I had been unable to procure a score to bolster that impression) of a symphony commissioned from Robert Kyr and dedicated to Kalmar and the orchestra. Born in Cleveland in 1952, Kyr teaches composition and theory at the University of Oregon’s music school. Numbered 12 in his copious output of symphonies, the 24 -minute work is in one movement and carries the subtitle “Armed Man Variations,” alluding to its basis in the 14th- or 15th-century song L’Homme armé. A meditation on war and its effect on mankind, it featured some attractive sonorities in an approachable tonal-modal idiom, some thoroughly professional contrapuntal excursions, and a command of atmosphere that ranged effectively from tranquillity to threat to resolution, without quite overcoming the harmonic thinness inherent in a set of variations based on a purely monodic theme. In the central section, two sets of percussion instruments placed antiphonally at the front of the platform, one on each side of the orchestra, made war on each other; the effect was dramatic enough, but not nearly as thrilling as similar passages in works by Carl Nielsen, Frank Martin, and Andrzej Panufnik, who all in various works made use of that kind of drum battle.

All in all, I had the impression that Kyr is a composer with a true expressive bent and no little skill. But it was perhaps unfortunate for him that his work was followed by one of Richard Strauss’ most opulent scores. In the slower passages that soon follow the grandiloquent opening flourishes of Ein Heldenleben, we encountered at once the utter control of harmonic movement that had been missing in the new symphony, and that constitutes the single most fundamental yet elusive resource for any composer working in the western harmonic tradition. Where Kyr’s music, whether written in short notes or long, all seemed to be going along at more or less the same pace, Strauss was able at a stroke to conjure genuine dash and equally genuine leisure. His wonderful piece of musical self-congratulation is, whether you like such advertisements or not, a masterpiece, and one that poses many problems for an orchestra. The Oregon Symphony rose commendably to the challenge, and the success of the performance was considerably enhanced by presence as guest concertmaster of Elisa Barston, the principal second violin of the Seattle Symphony 170 miles to the north. She showed herself to be an effective leader, and shaped the brilliant if slightly tedious solos depicting “the Hero’s helpmeet” with sweet tone and splendid bravura.

 

Bernard Jacobson