By Eileen Wingard
SAN DIEGO — We could hear the clicking heels of Spanish dancers and feel the bustling Iberian street scene as the violins tapped their bow’s wooden sticks against their strings and the trombones surged with compelling melody in Chabrier’s Espana, the opening piece of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra’s Oct. 12 matinee concert in the Jacobs Music Center.
Conductor Raphael Payare and the SDSO dispatched this eight-minute tour de force with excitement and precision, characteristics that dominated the rest of the program.
Emmanuel Chabrier was a French composer and Espana was his best known composition. In it he captured the Spanish musical spirit and it has become a favorite of symphony orchestras world wide.
The next work on the program was a piano concerto by the newly-appointed composer-in-residence of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Jimmy Lopez. Lopez was born in Lima, Peru, in 1978. He met the piano soloist, Javier Perianes, a native of Spain, in Helsinki, Finland, when they were both students at the conservatory there.
Lopez, enamored with Perianes’ playing, dedicated his piano concerto to the Spanish artist. Perianes premiered the concerto in 2022 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, one of four orchestras that co-commissioned the piece.
The piano concerto, Ephemerae, is divided into three movements, Bloom, Primal Forest, and Spice Bazaar.
It is inspired by fragrances, among the most ephemeral of sensations. The first movement, Bloom, represents the many fragrances of Spring. It is dominated by a minor second motif, first introduced by the piano. It later blossoms into full orchestral colors, evoking the flowers of Spring.
The second movement, Primal Forest, opens with the piano playing arpeggiated passages, violin harmonics and high piccolo notes suggesting mystery and eeriness.
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The final work after intermission was Robert Schumann’s Symphony #2 in C major. This symphony was completed a decade before Schumann’s death at age 46, when the composer was already struggling with depression and it took him a year to complete the work. However, the four movements reflect optimism and hope, unlike the state of their creator.
The first movement, Sostenuto assai—Allegro ma non troppo opens with a trumpet call introduction followed by the strings and woodwinds skipping along with a sunny, dotted rhythmic theme. The second movement, Scherzo: Allegro vivace is one of the most difficult in the literature for the violins. It is often used in auditions. I recall practicing it for long hours when we would perform it while I was a member of the SDSO. In last Sunday’s concert, the moto perpetuo part was performed with remarkable rapidity and precision.
The third movement, Adagio expressivo, sang with emotion. There was a beautiful fugal section, begun by the first violins.
The fourth movement, Allegro molto vivace ends with the same trumpet fanfare that opened the symphony, giving unity to the triumphant close.
Once again, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, in its newly renovated Jacobs Music Center, delivered a wonderful concert under the direction of its inspiring conductor, Raphael Payare, to a large and appreciative audience.
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Eileen Wingard, a retired violinist with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts.