Judging by its enthusiastic response, the audience does too.
Alexander Borodin was a scientist first and musician/composer second. Even so, he was one of the “Mighty Five” Russian composers along with Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Cui, and Balakirev. In this program, we heard the “Overture to Prince Igor,” Borodin’s opera and probably his best-known work. Composer Glazunov actually wrote down and orchestrated the overture after Borodin’s death, based on his memory of hearing Borodin play it on the piano.
Rich, full, flowery orchestral sounds characterized this concert opener. A sprightly clarinet began one of the overture’s main themes. Mellow horns introduced a second, which I thought had a bit of a Glazunov flavor. These themes appeared magically again and again from various sections and the full orchestra, as this wonderful feel-good music got the concert underway.
The second work was Stravinsky’s “Violin Concerto in D.”
This is an unusual little four-movement concerto.
It seemed to me that through most of the piece, the violinist had to compete with the orchestra with little opportunity to display his virtuosity. No showy cadenza in this piece. But there was a lot of creative energy between the conductor and the soloist that made everything work pretty well.
The piece sounded simple, especially in the first movement, though it no doubt requires a lot of skill on the part of the soloist. This skill was apparent, as Mr. Gringolts worked smoothly and effortlessly on his 1723 Stradivarius. He has come a long way since being dismissed by his first music teacher who said the five-year-old student had no particular talent for the violin.
Young Gringolts was very courageous to play the Stravinsky concerto when there are so many other better known works that would show off his talents more spectacularly. There were some nice mellow violin sounds in the slow third movement. But it wasn’t until the finale that the soloist had the opportunity to dominate the performance. It is a tribute to Maestro Llewellyn that he maintained the balance between violinist and orchestra, allowing the clever score and witty character of the piece to come through.
The major symphonic work of the evening was “Symphony No. 4 in F minor” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky followed the Mighty Five chronologically, and while his music is definitely Russian, unlike the Five, all of whose music is Russian to the core, he tended to move more toward the European form of symphonic construction. This was especially true of his last three symphonies, of which No. 4 was the earliest. All of his music was and is considered emotional, perhaps because all of his life he was rather an emotional basket case. Symphony No. 4 is no exception as (in the composer’s own words) “The main idea … is fate, the inexorable power that hampers our search for happiness.”
Llewellyn captured the various moods of this music as he led the orchestra in the kind of exciting performance that can only be experienced live. The trumpets and horns blew us away in the first movement as they cranked up the volume and sonority in repeated fanfares of the “fate” theme. The oboe, bassoon, clarinet and flute in turn with melancholy strings clearly captured the sadness of the beautiful second movement.
About the third movement, Tchaikovsky noted, “The mood is neither sad nor gay.” Nevertheless, the strings broke from bow to pizzicato, lightening up from the darker mood of earlier movements. Seeing every string instrument playing pizzicato was a visual as well as an aural reward.
The brass and percussion opened the 4th movement with a bang and the full orchestra blended superbly in the bright brisk sounds of the happiness theme. Even the returning fate theme seemed less foreboding. If fate was the thing on Tchaikovsky’s mind, it was the fate of Moore County music lovers to experience another great performance by Grant Llewellyn and the North Carolina Symphony.
The audience loved it.
Don Delauter is a retired USAF brigadier general and classical music enthusiast living in Whispering Pines.
