Two swift chords and a tangle of woodwind curlicues opened the first concert of the 28th Music in the Mountains Festival Saturday evening.
From the playful filigree of Mozart’s Overture to “Cosi fan tutte,” to the chordal decathlon that tragically concludes Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake,” the Festival Orchestra demonstrated its prowess and range once again.
Conducted by Music Director Guillermo Figueroa, the orchestra convened at the Festival Tent and stunned a sold-out crowd. Foregoing its longstanding preference for schmaltzy titles like “Romance in the Air,” MITM chose to label this concert simply “All-time Greatest Hits.”
With a brief but elegant overture, a big Beethoven piano concerto featuring the inimitable Aviram Reichert and a dramatically compressed version of Tchaikovsky’s ballet music, Figueroa and company delivered what was advertised, three great hits and more – a little story telling.
At the center of the concert, Reichert breathed high drama into Beethoven’s final piano concerto, “The Emperor.” Playing with force and fluency, he dazzled the audience with his opening flourishes. He merged into and out of the several cadenzas with ease, the orchestra anticipating each reentry as if the musicians had been rehearsing for weeks instead of a few mornings.
In contrast to the martial and muscular first movement, the adagio turned to muted tranquility with the briefest suggestion of what would come in the big, triumphant final movement. A percussive spatter of rain briefly accompanied timpanist John Pennington’s exposed pulse before the celebratory work brought the first half to an energetic conclusion.
After intermission, Figueroa became a storyteller. He told the tale of “Swan Lake” with its privileged prince, swan maidens, a villain and, of course, a spell. Wisely, he also explained how the compressed musical version came into being. Speaking from direct experience as the former concertmaster and guest conductor of the New York City Ballet (1991-2001), he credited George Balanchine with the decision to reduce the four-hour Russian work into a 30-minute, one-act ballet.
Story time over, Figueroa led the orchestra through seven discrete sections, each musically interpreting the fateful tale. “The White Swan,” a pas de deux between the Prince and Odette, was excruciatingly beautiful. It featured a spare trio: violinist and concertmaster Leslie Shank, harpist Anne Eisfeller and cellist Jan Simiz. Its lyricism set the stage for the enormous contrasts to follow, especially the big, transcendent ending. After building in both agitation and intensity, 10 sudden, repeated chordal pronouncements represented the tragic deaths of the Prince and Odette. The final orchestral unison, however, brought the story and the music to a luminous conclusion.
jreynolds@durangoherald.com. Judith Reynolds is a Durango writer, artist and critic.
Review
“All-time Greatest Hits,” 5:30 p.m., Saturday, Durango Mountain Resort. Conductor Guillermo Figueroa, Festival Orchestra, Music in the Mountains, with piano soloist Aviram Reichert.
