The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Neale: Reunion with Elm City friends on and off the podium
In the fall of 1983 I tumbled off a plane from London as a fresh-faced 21year-old, all set to begin what I had assumed would be no more than a two- or three-year stint in the U.S. to get my master’s degree in conducting from Yale. Well, that visit ended up being rather longer than I had imagined, and almost 35 years later my adventure continues, filled with experiences that back then I could have never conjured up in my wildest dreams.
I still recall the warmth and openness with which I was greeted by the people of New Haven, and I remember vividly the relatively quick realization that the U.S. was where I’d like to spend the rest of my life. I remember my first New England fall, walking around slack-jawed in amazement that such colors even existed. And I remember hearing the New Haven Symphony for the first time under Murry Sidlin, little imagining that I would find myself on the podium all those years later as a candidate for music director. All told, before I left for San Francisco in 1989, I lived in New Haven for six wonderful and formative years. So this week of music-making with the NHSO really is a homecoming for me!
I still have many dear friends in New Haven, so I thought it might be a nice idea to build a program loosely around the idea of friendship. Elgar’s “Enigma Variations,” which forms the backbone of the concert, is a personal favorite of mine. I’ve done the piece a lot, but I have to say it stays as fresh and inspiring as ever. The back story to
its creation is really quite neat. Elgar’s wife, Alice, heard her husband tinkering away at the piano one night after dinner, seemingly improvising a tune. “What’s that?” she asked. “Nothing,” he replied. “But something might be made of it. Soand-so might play it like this,” and he proceeded to play the tune in the style of one of his friends. And so was born one of the most inventive and charming pieces in the repertoire.
Elgar’s assemblage of characters, dedicated “to my friends pictured within,” were at first quasi-anonymous, known only by their initials (hence the title). It didn’t take long for people to figure out who was who, but the title stuck, in part because Elgar let it be known that there was another enigma related to the theme itself. He never let on what that was, though, and nobody’s figured out definitely what the answer is, though people have even written theses on the subject. Like the very best art, the piece itself seems to reflect the human condition in all its complexity. There’s the heart-stopping beauty of Nimrod, the sensitive depiction of his wife and the mystery of the
variation entitled only “Romanza.” There’s even room for Dan the bulldog, tumbling down a river bank into the water and shaking himself off (dogs are people too!). And somehow Elgar manages to write a confident and optimistic selfportrait as the final variation without coming across as a narcissist — no mean achievement, when you think about it.
Music of our time — especially American music — has always been important to me, and I’m very happy to introduce two new composers to New Haven Symphony audiences, Mason Bates and Kevin Puts. Both write accessible and imaginative music; both have enjoyed popular and critical success; both represent among the best of an exciting and vibrant new generation of American composers; and both are friends of mine. “Mothership,” by Mason, is a fantastic wild ride in outer space, propelled along by a computer-generated techno beat that recalls Mason’s days as a DJ in San Francisco night clubs. Kevin’s piece, “this noble company...,” was written as a kind of American response to Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1” — a piece indelibly etched in the mind of anyone who has participated in or witnessed a graduation
ceremony. I should add that there’s none of the patriotic bluster of Elgar’s march in Kevin’s piece. It’s a serene and dignified processional that in this context serves as a prelude of sorts to the “Enigma Variations.”
Rounding out the program is Mozart’s turbulent and passionate “Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor.” To be honest, my “friendship” theme doesn’t quite cut it here, since the piece isn’t at all about friendship. Worse still, Mozart isn’t even a friend of mine. But if there’s one composer from history that I would love to have had as a friend, Mozart’s my guy. Have you ever played that parlor game where you get to invite any 10 people, living or dead, to an imaginary dinner party? Well, my guest list starts with Mozart, and I know that I’d plunk him right next to me. I’d have to be careful not to monopolize him though, because Elgar would be seated on my other side.