Texas Classical Review

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra under the baton of guest conductor Anu Tali delivered an engrossing program Friday night featuring music of Amy Beach and Alisson Kruusmaa, closing with Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations.

Kruusmaa’s Five Arabesques, scored for string orchestra, began the program.  The five movements feature a wide variety of string textures that are juxtaposed and contrasted over the course of the set.  A solemn melody sounded in unison by the violas began the first movement before it was joined by the cellos and then harmonized by gentle, fifth-based chords in the remaining voices.  

The second movement was marked by glassy harmonics sounded by the violas and second violins over a bed of irregular arpeggios sounded by the first violins; these harmonics were briefly supplanted by a fuller melody sounded in fifths before returning to close the movement.

Spiccato bowing of fifth-based intervals in the cellos and violas set up an irregular rhythmic bed in the third movement for high harmonics followed by full yet gradually evolving harmonies sustained by the violins.  The fourth movement began with a short drone in the basses underscoring glassy tremolos in the violins.  These soon gave way to a series of ascending scales culminating in tremolos sounded in all parts, increasing in pitch until they reached the upper limits of the violins’ range.

Throughout the irregular rhythms and durations of the first four movements, Tali gently conducted a steady beat and tempo that belied the rhythmically chaotic nature of the music.  The last movement broke with this pattern, completing the set with soft yet richly sounded chords encompassing the full register of the strings, each guided by Tali’s distinct and serene gestures.  

The relative consonance and more familiar melodic gestures of this last arabesque added an expressive quality that contrasted with the more abstract nature of the previous movements and made for a compelling conclusion to the collection of soundscapes.

Kruusmaa was was present for the performance, and shared the applause with Tali and the DSO. (Tali and Kruusmaa will also be panelists for the Sunday session of the DSO’s sixth annual “Women in Classical Music” Symposium.) 

Five Arabesques was followed by the Piano Concerto of Amy Cheney Beach.  As the longest piece on the program and a nexus for the concert’s theme of Women in Music, this work served as a centerpiece for the performance.

Although highly virtuosic, the piano part was characterized more by full chordal sonorities and broad gestures than dazzling passagework, allowing soloist Anne-Marie McDermott to cast the instrument as a true partner in dialogue with the orchestra.  The DSO under Tali’s sure direction provided both a strong backdrop and vigorous foil for McDermott.

The first movement set the terms for their conversation, with bold statements in both forces culminating in a dynamic cadenza that served as the climax of the movement.

Although the lighter tone of the following scherzo movement provided a contrast with the mood of the first, the energy between parts remained constant, evident primarily in the headlong motion of McDermott’s piano figures that had the orchestra in close pursuit.

The Largo opened with ominous tones in the low brass that set the temper of the movement as a whole.  Tali’s fervent gestures matched McDermott’s impassioned yet subdued tones, both carrying the third movement directly into the finale, during which McDermott then unleashed the piano part’s overtly dazzling Lisztian side.

The Enigma Variations seemed almost like an encore following the dynamism of the Beach concerto, even after a brief intermission.  That said, Tali’s interpretation of Elgar’s musical sketches of friends and associates still made for a rousing and satisfactory conclusion to the concert. 

The solemn initial theme and the somewhat lighter first variation (a characterization of Elgar’s wife, Alice) formed a complementary pair that hinted at things to come.  Variations three through eight comprised brief vignettes exhibiting a mixture of moods from comedic to furious to elegiac, each a personal reflection on their respective subjects.

The ninth variation (“Nimrod”) marked a change in the progression of the different characters making up the set.  Tali’s pacing perfectly captured this somewhat longer movement’s self-contained dynamic shift from pensive contemplation to affirmative statement.

Variations ten through thirteen provided a brief respite before the stirring finale and featured fine solos by Meredith Kufchak, Stephen Ahearn and Christopher Adkins on viola, clarinet and cello, respectively.  The finale itself, described by the composer as a self-portrait, was marked by recurring statements of a boisterous fanfare interspersed with quieter, more introspective moments before accelerating under Tali’s lead to a thrilling climax and conclusion.

The program will be repeated 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m/ Sunday.   The first panel session for the WICM Symposium will take place at 5:30 pm following Sunday’s performance.  dallassymphony.org