By Eileen Wingard in San Diego
During all the years I have played in orchestras, both student, rehearsal, and professional orchestras, and attended concerts, this San Diego Symphony Orchestra program at Jacobs Music Center on October 17, was the first time I have encountered a trombonist as a featured soloist in a concerto.
Written by the SDSO’s and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra’s current composer-in-residence, Peruvian-born Jimmy Lopez, and performed by trombone virtuoso, Jorgen van Rijen, it was a four movement musical romp. Titled Shift and inspired by the Doppler effect and its various reactions in different mediums, the movements, Air, Water, Light, Sonoluminescence, were each engaging musically, even without knowing any programmatic background.
The first movement opened with the solo trombone in a double-tongued, staccato passage ending with a humorous glissando. Triple and double tongued crescendos and diminuendos characterized the rest of the movement with orchestral sections intertwined with the virtuosic soloist.
The second movement, describing Doppler waves moving more slowly through water, included melodies resembling Latin dance music, and an impressive cadenza, while the third movement was infused with South American rhythms and intricate syncopations emulating the sounds of the stratosphere.
The final movement was filled with exciting passages illustrating the range of the trombone, from the lowest notes to the highest overtones, and bringing back passages from the three previous movements. Another short virtuosic cadenza preceded the final chords with the orchestra.
The audience seemed to love the work and the soloist and composer were called back for extensive applause. However, given the difficulty of the work, one wonders how many other trombonists could play this concerto. Jorgen van Rijen is the principal trombonist of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, Holland.
The concert opened with the guest conductor, French-born Ludovic Morlot, leading the SDSO in Debussy’s two Nocturnes, Nuages and Fetes. In Nuages (Clouds), one could almost visualize grey clouds gently moving in the soundscapes of Debussy’s orchestration, with the intruding English horn passages sounding like bits of sunlight peeking through. The Fetes (Festivals) sparkled with effervescent energy, highlighted by cymbal crashes, timpani rolls and muted trumpet calls.
Following intermission, two Ravel selections bookended Francis Poulenc’s Suite from Les Biches (The Does). This five-movement ballet suite, influenced by the music of Offenbach, was witty, entertaining and succeeded in depicting light-hearted flirtatious young women.
Maurice Ravel was sometimes thought to be Jewish because of his
genuine affection for Jewish culture, which led him to create works like “Deux mélodies hébraïques” (“Two Hebraic Melodies”) and “Chanson Hébraïque” (“Hebraic Song”). However, that was not the case. His mother was Basque and his father was a French-born civil engineer. They met each other in Spain before moving to Paris.
Maurice Ravel’s two works on the Oct. 17 program, Alborada del gracioso and the four movement Rapsodie espagnole, were inspired by the music of Spain. Probably because his mother sang him Spanish folk songs, he had a strong affinity for Spanish music. He gave his works an impressionistic patina with harmonic harp passages, ricochet and pizzicatos in the strings, and muted trumpets. He also used xylophone and celeste in the Rhapsodie.
There were beautiful solo passages, especially by the woodwinds, trumpets, first stand violins and principal viola, well acknowledged by conductor Morlot, with English horn player, Andrea Overturf, the first to be to be asked to rise during the audience’s standing ovation at the end of the Rhapsodie espagnole. This was followed by acknowledging all the soloists and sections of our wonderful San Diego Symphony Orchestra.
Marlot knew how to create the subtle nuances of the impressionist scores and our SDSO responded fully to the spell of this colorist conductor.
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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.