Philadelphians Play Danielpour Premiere

Chorus Shines On Carmina Burana

Wednesday, August 9, 2000

By Stephen F. Leonard, Special to The Post-Star

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- The Philadelphians finished their first week in residence at Saratoga Performing Arts Center Saturday evening with a world premiere and a rousing choral work.

Opening with the Overture to Don Giovanni (K. 527) by Mozart, the orchestra continued the momentum set in the first several concerts. Despite a somewhat lackluster introduction by the strings in the overture, the molto allegro section of the work finally got on track. With the strings redeeming themselves and a brilliant tone in the woodwind and brass sections, the overture became what is was intended to be: "... music of pure joy."

The world premiere of Richard Danielpour's Violin Concerto (A Fool's Paradise) has been highly anticipated for more than a year. The concerto was a co-commission by the Philadelphia Orchestra and SPAC for violinist Chantal Juillet. Following a concerto written by Yo-Yo Ma in 1994 -- played by Ma last summer at SPAC -- the Danielpour work was written over a period of two years from 1998 to just last month. Ongoing consultation with violinist Juillet saw the three-movement work go through a typical process of writing and rewriting. The work itself has many very interesting aspects--musically, technically and compositionally. Each movement could almost stand alone, although the third -- and final -- movement incorporates many of the rhythmic and melodic materials from the other two.

The first movement's melodic material presented by the violinist at the outset is interrupted by the brass. Powerful playing by Juillet is more than a match for the full orchestra. A fiery, angst-filled energy pervades the movement. The contemporary, impressionistic harmonies have an ever-present sinister, "look over your shoulder" kind of attitude. The second movement opens like a dreamscape of sound with oboe, harp and muted strings offering a beautiful waltz. Juillet's entrance takes the waltz into what is described as an "aria for violin." Although offering a seemingly hopeful sense of calm, there is still a feeling of foreboding. A truly seamless piece of compositional technique by Danielpour. Pulling melodic and rhythmic fragments from the other movements, the final movement focuses upon a "ta-da-da da" triplet figure (victory?) passed about the orchestra. The concerto gives a sense of almost being finished. It definitely provides another work for the contemporary concerto repertoire that may, after additional reworkings, surpass the earlier Cello Concerto.

Finishing the evening's concert, the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia joined the orchestra for a most spirited performance of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. Dutoit seemed to throw caution to the wind and took the performers on a wild ride. Baritone soloist Stephen Powell was almost perfect for this part with only his falsetto in the later part of the work being rather weak. Tenor Stanford Olsen thoroughly enjoyed his single solo as the forlorn goose waiting to be roasted. Soprano Nancy Allen Lundy was merely adequate -- if even that. The chorus, however, shone from beginning to end. Balance between orchestra and chorus was just right. Diction was superb, the tone excellent. The whole package was one of the best performances of the work in recent memory.

The Philadelphians offer Russian music all this week, with plenty of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Rimsky-Korsakov to spare.