SKY’S THE LIMIT: ESO SHIFTS FROM ’60S FOLK ICONS TO STARS WARS
There were dark, glowering clouds foretelling weather doom, there were afternoon downpours, but somehow the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra managed things so that not a drop fell on the first three evenings of their mini-outdoor festival at Hawrelak Park, Symphony Under the Sky.
Indeed, so brilliantly did they arrange it that the rain on Saturday, which had prompted a sea of umbrellas over the grass seating and a lazy waterspout from the auditorium awning, stopped exactly as the first bars of the opening music from Jurassic Park sounded.
The proceedings opened on Thursday with a Simon and Garfunkel tribute concert. The duo were among the most successful musicians of the 1960s, appealing to the youth of the counterculture — especially Vietnam War protesters. Their songs, with such clear roots in folk music, also appealed to their parents, sounding relatively “safe.”
Whether, for subsequent generations, they have quite the same popularity as such iconic 1960s groups as the Beatles, the Stones or Pink Floyd is debatable — but that is in part because their last studio album was issued in 1970. Certainly, most of Thursday’s audience could remember the 1960s themselves.
The ESO was backing Canadian singer Jim Witter (taking the Simon role), Ian Tanner (Garfunkel) and their band. Their enthusiastic approach was just right, keeping the overall tone and sound of the originals, without overtly trying to copy those originals: in other words, faithful covers.
Witter was entertaining with his stories, and Tanner himself did the orchestral arrangements, generally assigning the orchestra a more subdued, concerted backup role. But there were some lovely little orchestral touches (such as the sound of xylophone being played with violin bows) that suggested he could happily give more to individual orchestral sections in his arrangements.
What particularly came across — aside from the sheer tunefulness — was how good those ’60s lyrics are. They reflect the sense of individual rootlessness that suffused the decade: the solitude of a bus-station or Greyhound journey, looking out of windows on empty streets, the elderly on a park bench. A nostalgic and most effective evening.
Friday’s concert was devoted to classical music, and was one of the most enjoyable I have heard the ESO play. Part of that was due to the orchestra’s concertmaster, Robert Uchida, the soloist in the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. His tone in the opening movement was gorgeous, and he was sensibly content to let the music speak for itself, an outpouring of song without words. The interplay with the orchestra was well judged in the second movement, and if he could perhaps have let himself go a little more in the dances of the third, this was a treasurable performance.
Part of it was due to conductor Robert Bernhardt. I thought I had heard Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade too many times to enjoy it again (that returning main theme does grate after a while), but I was wrong. He conjured up a performance that was not overtly sentimental, and had something of the quality of a marvellous dramatic score to an imaginary Arabian Nights movie, without the film.
Particularly impressive was the layering of volumes of the different sections of the orchestra, and the ESO responded with really crisp timing and clarity. The work is an orchestral showcase, and every section of the orchestra shone, especially the woodwind. One did, though, feel sorry for the tuba player: a microphone had been placed right above the bell of the instrument, blaring out in what was otherwise a much better balanced sound system than last year.
Surprisingly, the ESO’s playing wasn’t quite as vibrant for the Saturday evening concert devoted to the actual music of Hollywood — at least for the first half. It may have been the colder weather, or perhaps the presence of a very large choir: the Edmonton Youth Choir and Children’s Chorus, joined by the Ukrainian Male Voice Chorus of Edmonton, and singer Tyler Hamilton.
The music-making was infectious, though, particularly the oldest number, a rousing performance of composer Tiomkin’s theme from Rawhide. That must have brought back memories to older members of the audience, of sitting in front of the black-andwhite TV for the Western series that included a very young Clint Eastwood.
The second half was devoted to the music of John Williams, and a reminder of what a superlative composer — and orchestrator — he is. It included two selections from the latest Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens, remarkable writing from a composer in his 80s. It includes, of course, themes from the earlier movies, but Rey’s Theme is completely new, a beautiful — and beautifully constructed — piece that deserves to stand on its own.
Symphony Under the Sky closed on Sunday with a concert of music from around the world — alas, past the deadline for me to include in this roundup.
But there’s another chance to hear the ESO and Bernhardt this Labour Day weekend, when they perform Disney film scores in free concerts in Churchill Square on Friday and Saturday (7 p.m.).