The evening began with Maurice Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin. Unfortunately, I can’t say anything about the performance since, due to traffic and parking problems, I arrived too late for that piece.
Fortunately, I arrived in time to hear the highlight (for me) of the evening: Florence Price’s Symphony No. 3. Florence Price (1887-1953) faced two obstacles to her composing career: she was female and Black. Although her Symphony No. 1 was performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1933, her other works were only performed by minor ensembles or not at all. Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin has championed her music, and my first hearing of this Symphony showed good reason for his enthusiasm. The first and second movements of this four-movement work are rich with themes that clearly emanate from the world of African-American spirituals. But these are no mere pastiches of these melodies; these two movements are structured with imagination and complexity. The third movement is even more explicitly related to the African-American experience: entitled “Juba,” it is a lively and energetic dance. The final movement uses all the resources of a large orchestra (including 13 percussion instruments!) to produce a stirring and thrilling conclusion.
Reading the program notes for the next piece brought a question to mind: What was I doing when I was 14 years old? Certainly, nothing creative that would last for years or decades. When Clara Wieck (later Clara Schumann) was 14 years old, already a celebrated pianist, she wrote her Piano Concerto in A Minor, Opus 7, which was engagingly performed by the young Italian pianist, Beatrice Rana. The work is in three movements, but performed without a break. The second movement was particularly appealing—a lyrical solo by the piano which evolves into a duet with the solo cello, beautifully rendered by Principal Cellist Hai-Ye Ni. There may have been some awkward moments in the first movement, but overall, it’s a work that shows great promise of things to come. But that was not to be. Clara Wieck-Schumann’s composing career was essentially ended by her marriage to Robert Schumann—which produced eight children—as well as her self-doubts about the possibilities of a composing career. Consider the following words of this supremely talented woman, and think what she might have accomplished if she had role models to follow:
The evening concluded with a crowd pleaser: Ravel’s Bolero. Once considered an “experimental” piece, it has now become part of the popular culture, in large part due to an unforgettable scene (for men anyway) in the movie 10. But let’s strip away those associations (pardon the pun) and realize that Bolero remains a work of enormous imagination. Instead of a theme and variations, Ravel repeats the same two intertwined melodies over and over, with no changes except instrumentation until the very end. The effect is mesmerizing and powerful, especially when it’s performed by an orchestra with such outstanding first chairs in the wind section.I once believed that I possessed creative talent, but I have given up this idea; a woman must not desire to compose – there has never yet been one able to do it. Should I expect to be the one?
I should mention that there was an especially loud ovation when Yannick came onto the stage to conduct Bolero. Why? Because he was wearing a Phillies jersey (Mike Schmidt's 1980 powder blue jersey to be exact), in recognition of the Phillies' World Series appearance. What other conductor in the staid world of classical music would do this?
So what if I missed the first piece on the program? Three memorable performances were enough to make the evening a success.