San Diego Arts

San Diego Symphony Balances Bartok with Saint-Saens

By Kenneth Herman
Posted on Sun, Nov 9th, 2008
Last updated Sun, Nov 9th, 2008

Occasionally, it is tempting to believe in divine intervention when it comes to accounting for certain 20^th-century musical works. How else to explain Bela Bartok’s 1944 “Concerto for Orchestra,” which the San Diego Symphony and guest conductor Peter Oundjian performed with such conviction Friday (Nov. 7) night at Copley Hall?

In 1940, Bartok and his wife escaped his native Hungary and the oppressive rule of its Hitler-allied Nazi regime to settle in New York City. Although the two Bartoks gave concerts and recitals, his music was too austere and cerebral for the American public, whose idea of agreeable modern music encompassed the tuneful piano concertos of George Gershwin and the upbeat ballets of Aaron Copland. Compounding his musical isolation in the New World—he had been a celebrity in Europe between the wars—he contracted leukemia and soon became both physically and emotionally unable to compose.

Following the urging of Bartok’s closest American musical friends, conductor Fritz Reiner and violinist Joseph Szigeti, the dean of American conductors Serge Koussevitzsky offered Bartok a sizable commission to write an orchestral work for his Boston Symphony. From his sick bed in a New York hospital, the failing Bartok rejected Koussevitzsky’s offer as a gesture of thinly-disguised charity and a commission he felt physically unable to carry out.

But Koussevitzsky was prepared for such a reaction from the proud Magyar and left him a check for half of the commission, despite his protests. Then the miracle happened. Bartok’s health returned; he was released from the hospital and retreated to a sylvan spot in upstate New York where he composed the “Concerto for Orchestra.” The work was an instant success when premiered the following season by the Boston Symphony, and its creation not only added two years to the composer’s life, but it allowed him to write two other major works, his Third Piano Concerto and a Violin Sonata for Szigeti.

Considering Bartok was at death’s door, his radical conception of the piece and the exuberant, life-affirming character of the final movement represent a kind of spiritual resurrection. Concertos typically feature one (occasionally two or three) solo virtuoso with the orchestra playing a collective second fiddle to the soloist’s star turn. In his Concerto for Orchestra, however, Bartok dispensed with the aristocratic soloist and democratically devised a vast mosaic of many shorter solos and virtuoso duets from all sections of the orchestra. He emphasized the possibilities of the entire orchestra rather than reducing it to a mere vehicle for accompaniment.

Oundjian carefully layered the San Diego Symphony to allow these many solos to stand out, and they were all winning, from the chortling duos of the bassoons to the astringent, close intervals of the trumpets. The Canadian conductor’s attention to detail allowed us to appreciate Bartok’s meticulous craftsmanship and subtle interweaving of angular motifs. What I missed was the orchestra’s ensemble strength and precise rhythmic cohesion that made, for example, last month’s performance of “The Planets” so compelling. "Concerto for Orchestra" is not, of course, a frequently played score. San Diego last played it almost 15 years ago in the waning years of the Yoav Talmi directorate. Perhaps Music Director Jahja Ling will program more Bartok in upcoming seasons, now that he has an instrument worthy of this repertory. Oundjian’s take on the “Concerto for Orchestra” certainly whetted this listener’s appetite for more Bartok.

Although French pianist Pascal Rogé is known for his affinity for and success with the Camille Saint-Saens piano concertos, his playing of Saint-Saens’ Second Piano Concerto in G Minor was nothing short of breath-taking. His velvet touch and extraordinary depth in the opening movement gave me a new respect for this over-played warhorse. Rogé balanced elegantly finished flourishes with muscular parallel octaves and seamless fusillades, providing the best of both worlds: fire and refinement in the same player. Oundjian and the orchestra provided support in kind, with a happy preference for flexibility over bombast.

Richard Wagner’s Prelude to “Die Meistersinger” opened the program with burnished brilliance, showing off the recently acquired blend and sonic balance in the choirs of horns and trombones. Oundjian’s more spirited tempo raised the Prelude from its customary starchy self-importance and gave it a more ingratiating sparkle. Even this Beckmesser eagerly tosses a bouquet to such a mellifluous interpretation of this paean to Teutonic tunefulness.

CONCERT PROGRAM HERE

Dates	:	November 7-9, 2008
Organization	:	San Diego Symphony
Phone	:	(619) 235-0800
Production Type	:	Concert
Region	:	Downtown San Diego
URL	:	www.sandiegosymphony.com
Venue	:	Copley Symphony Hall, 750 B St., San Diego

About the author: Kenneth Herman began his writing career as a music critic for the San Diego Union-Tribune and covered classical music for the San Diego Edition of the Los Angeles Times (1982-1992). He wrote "A History of the Spreckels Organ." and is currently Music Director/Organist for the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego and conducts the 60-voice San Diego Youth Choir.
More by this author.

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