Symphony hosts a Beethoven celebration
BUTLER TWP — The Butler County Symphony Orchestra hosted a grand birthday celebration for one of music's greatest composers by inviting one of literature's most endearing characters to the party.
Saturday evening at the Butler Intermediate High School, under the direction of Matthew Kraemer, the symphony showcased a wildly popular symphony and a world-famous tone poem.
The first half of the program featured the musically diverse “Don Quixote” by Richard Strauss. As a tone poem, the work musically narrates the picaresque novel by Miguel de Cervantes.
With full orchestra, solo cello and viola, the work conveys the adventures of Don Quixote and his faithful companion, Sancho Panza, as they joust with windmills and other imaginary villains.
The cello soloist for the piece, Roman Mekinulov, told the audience before he began that he, as Quixote, with his bow as the sword and his cello as his trusty steed, would tell the tale of the knight. In 14 sections, 10 of which are theme variations, the range of styles, tempos and moods show the personality of Quixote.
Beginning with a lilting passage and plaintive oboe, it quickly becomes rather furious, then establishes the theme. This introduction to a literary character with a wide range of emotions fits Quixote's idealized imaginary world where he sees beauty in the most mundane, qualities that labeled him “mad.”
Mekinulov, a native of Leningrad, Russia, played with a passion throughout the piece. Mekinulov immigrated to the United States in 1989 and continued his studies at the Juilliard School. He has performed extensively around the world as a soloist, chamber musician, and principal cellist in several orchestras.
The poem continues with a playful musical dialogue with Sancho Panza, ably performed by the symphony's principal violist, Sasha Shapiro. Sancho remains at Quixote's side as he battles with sheep, courts Dulcinea, and rides the high seas. Mekinulov's melancholy solo in the Dulcinea variation was especially moving.
The orchestra provided a soundtrack-like sound with rich horns, haunting reeds and strings as mighty swells on the ocean. From lyrical to dissonance, Kraemer and the orchestra handled the wide range of styles in the unusual composition.
The conclusion of the piece with Quixote's death is sad but hopeful, that the dreamer in Quixote lives on in all.
Mekinulov and the orchestra received a well-deserved standing ovation from an appreciative audience.
Ludwig von Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67 filled the second half. Beethoven at 250 years old, needs no introduction and his Symphony No. 5 begins with arguably the most recognized four notes in musical history.
The orchestra announced those four notes with gusto to begin the first movement and continued the energy. A Beethoven characteristic is to abruptly change the dynamics, and Kraemer led the orchestra to do just that while reiterating those four notes through the movement.
Alternating a lyrical theme introduced by the cellos and a stately theme by the horns wove in and out of the Andante con moto movement. The woodwind passage was particularly good.
Scherzo allegro, the third movement, began with a mysterious cello opening and transitioned to the clarion calls of the horns. These themes intertwined to build in a fugue section.
By now, Kraemer's enthusiasm for this symphony was evident. He was at times jumping up from the podium. Conducting without a score, he was fully engaged in this work. He brought the orchestra to an impressive pianissimo to end the movement and lead into the forte for the finale.
Even though this is a familiar symphony, the energy Kraemer and the orchestra brought to this performance made it new again. It was a joy to watch the joy that music brings. As a birthday gift to a musical great, Beethoven would have been pleased.
