Monday, February 13, 2012

A night at the symphony. Or, How to get from the concert hall to Wisconsin.

This weekend I attended the Quad City Symphony Orchestra concert.  They performed Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, Op. 35 and Maurice Ravel's Bolero.  Also on the program was a guitar concerto, that, though pleasant and performed well by the guest artist, just seemed a bit overwhelmed by the other two pieces that bookended it.

As I listened, it struck me how Rimsky-Korsakov managed to make a splendid 50 minute suite using, in essence, only two motives.  These two motives are passed around the orchestra, made into feature cadenzas for several instruments (including the solo violin, who, on this performance, was outstanding), and seamlessly blend into each other.  It was a wonderful experience to completely lose myself in a great work of art.  Scheherazade was written in 1888, completed within four weeks.  It is based on the 1001 Arabian Nights, which is the story of the Sultan who visited death upon his many wives after their first night.  Sultana Scheherazade outsmarts the Sultan (and thus saves her life) by telling him entertaining stories for 1001 nights. 

Ravel's Bolero is familiar to most people.  It uses the insistent snare drum rhythm was a sort of heartbeat.  The piece opens quietly, gently, very gradually opening up into a sinuous melody that is passed around to all members of the orchestra, including the addition of a soprano and tenor saxophone.  This performance seemed a bit unsteady at the start.  There was a false entrance from someone in the low brass and the soprano sax seemed to play in a caricature of what the part called for, awkwardly throwing in the pitch bends seemingly as an afterthought.  The orchestra redeemed itself somewhat, though, by delivering a solid ending.

Bolero was a success at the time it was written, much to Ravel's dismay.  He had a hard time understanding why this work, which he referred to as "orchstral tissue without music", was so popular.  It is, almost exclusively, one simple idea (melody) played repeatedly over one other simple idea (the drum ostinato).  It barely modulates and contains no development section.  "...it is one very long, gradual crescendo." 

For me, Bolero lives in The House on the Rock in Spring Green, WI.  Why?  Well, this odd attraction is full of fascinating automatons that are really modified musical instruments that have been engineered to play themselves.  One of the first automatons you meet as you enter the House is one that plays Ravel's Bolero.  It is one of only a few of the automatons that will play on its own and doesn't require a token to start.  The piece haunts you as you explore Alex Jordan's House; its neverending, insistent pulse buzzing in your ear until you leave the House for the next section of the sprawling estate.

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