Petrushka Performance Review
By Anna Wheeler
Thursday, November 6, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.
Thursday night's Phoenix Symphony concert featured a broad-jam packed-program, which is the intention of Artistic Director Michael Christie. Thursday evening performances, such as this opening concert, provide an intermission chat (on stage) with Michael Christie and a featured guest, which, in this case was Michael Daugherty, composer of the world premiere March of the Metro. This interview also typically allows members of the audience to ask questions of the guest artist, in order to learn more about the music, the history, the artists, and their inspiration.
The opening work-the newly commissioned March of the Metro-was humorously conceived (unexpectedly featuring a kazoo), and written to commemorate the soon-to-be launched Phoenix Metro Light Rail. With glockenspiel, timpani, trumpet fanfare, and comic glissandi woven throughout the piece (all while the kazoo lends its character to the sound texture) a delighted audience praised Daugherty as he stepped up onstage after the final chords. In the same way that television themes of the 1960s created humorous sound characterization through instrumentation (My Three Sons theme and the laid back alto saxophone with "Chopsticks" counterpoint, The Addams Family theme and the spooky harpsichord with the percussive snapping fingers, The Andy Griffith Show theme and that unforgettable happy whistle), perhaps this march will become a welcome theme for the Light Rail system, a bit of Americana cheerily welcoming Light Rail riders back again and again.
With similar instrumentation, March of the Metro paired nicely with Jennifer Higdon's "Skyline," from her larger work City Scape. "Skyline," the first movement, selected specifically for this concert, presented a cinematic quality which suggested busy patterns and urban imagery reminiscent of Bernard Herrmann's film score for Hitchcock's North by Northwest.
The first half of the concert closed admirably with the energetic and light-hearted Symphony No. 2 by Beethoven, pleasing many of the seasoned patrons in the hall. With clarity and familiarity, the orchestra performed the piece beautifully.
Without a question, the centerpiece of the evening was Stravinsky's Pétrouchka as conceived and directed by Basil Twist, a third generation puppet master, and brilliantly executed by his company of puppeteers. This second half of the concert captivated everyone in the hall-with both dramatic music and spectacle-especially the numerous children in attendance, many of whom were approximately ages 8-14.
Premiered in 1911, Pétrouchka (Diaghilev persuaded composer Igor Stravinsky to develop an entire ballet out of the original theme, a theme that Stravinsky wrote immediately prior to his working on the score for The Rite of Spring) featured Vaslav Nijinsky in the title role. But instead of seeing a ballet on Thursday, the audience experienced an entirely new telling of the story, through the charming and inventive staging of puppets by Basil Twist. In describing the theatricality of this performance, along with the magnificent music, it is important to note that every detail was managed by Mr. Twist and his group of specialized performers with excellence, from the beautiful life-like movement and characterization of each puppet, to the choreographed scene changes in the dark. Pétrouchka was graceful, precise, passionate and spellbinding.
Speaking of the dark, it is worth noting that before the concert the lobby advertised the "Glow in the Dark Club," an interesting angle on educational symphony-going. The Phoenix Symphony continues to innovate with concepts like this-suggesting that concert-goers bring laptops and PDA's to each concert in order to view Keeping Score(TM) concert commentary and program notes in real time in the back of the hall. This new and engaging utilization of cutting-edge technologies and devices offers new dimension to young, technically savvy concert-goers.
Michael Christie conducts the same Phoenix Symphony program again at Friday morning Coffee Concert, Nov. 7 at 11:00 a.m., and Saturday, Nov. 8 at 8:00 p.m. at Symphony Hall in downtown Phoenix. Call for tickets: (602) 495-1999 or (800) 776-9080.
Thursday, November 6, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.
Thursday night's Phoenix Symphony concert featured a broad-jam packed-program, which is the intention of Artistic Director Michael Christie. Thursday evening performances, such as this opening concert, provide an intermission chat (on stage) with Michael Christie and a featured guest, which, in this case was Michael Daugherty, composer of the world premiere March of the Metro. This interview also typically allows members of the audience to ask questions of the guest artist, in order to learn more about the music, the history, the artists, and their inspiration.
The opening work-the newly commissioned March of the Metro-was humorously conceived (unexpectedly featuring a kazoo), and written to commemorate the soon-to-be launched Phoenix Metro Light Rail. With glockenspiel, timpani, trumpet fanfare, and comic glissandi woven throughout the piece (all while the kazoo lends its character to the sound texture) a delighted audience praised Daugherty as he stepped up onstage after the final chords. In the same way that television themes of the 1960s created humorous sound characterization through instrumentation (My Three Sons theme and the laid back alto saxophone with "Chopsticks" counterpoint, The Addams Family theme and the spooky harpsichord with the percussive snapping fingers, The Andy Griffith Show theme and that unforgettable happy whistle), perhaps this march will become a welcome theme for the Light Rail system, a bit of Americana cheerily welcoming Light Rail riders back again and again.
With similar instrumentation, March of the Metro paired nicely with Jennifer Higdon's "Skyline," from her larger work City Scape. "Skyline," the first movement, selected specifically for this concert, presented a cinematic quality which suggested busy patterns and urban imagery reminiscent of Bernard Herrmann's film score for Hitchcock's North by Northwest.
The first half of the concert closed admirably with the energetic and light-hearted Symphony No. 2 by Beethoven, pleasing many of the seasoned patrons in the hall. With clarity and familiarity, the orchestra performed the piece beautifully.
Without a question, the centerpiece of the evening was Stravinsky's Pétrouchka as conceived and directed by Basil Twist, a third generation puppet master, and brilliantly executed by his company of puppeteers. This second half of the concert captivated everyone in the hall-with both dramatic music and spectacle-especially the numerous children in attendance, many of whom were approximately ages 8-14.
Premiered in 1911, Pétrouchka (Diaghilev persuaded composer Igor Stravinsky to develop an entire ballet out of the original theme, a theme that Stravinsky wrote immediately prior to his working on the score for The Rite of Spring) featured Vaslav Nijinsky in the title role. But instead of seeing a ballet on Thursday, the audience experienced an entirely new telling of the story, through the charming and inventive staging of puppets by Basil Twist. In describing the theatricality of this performance, along with the magnificent music, it is important to note that every detail was managed by Mr. Twist and his group of specialized performers with excellence, from the beautiful life-like movement and characterization of each puppet, to the choreographed scene changes in the dark. Pétrouchka was graceful, precise, passionate and spellbinding.
Speaking of the dark, it is worth noting that before the concert the lobby advertised the "Glow in the Dark Club," an interesting angle on educational symphony-going. The Phoenix Symphony continues to innovate with concepts like this-suggesting that concert-goers bring laptops and PDA's to each concert in order to view Keeping Score(TM) concert commentary and program notes in real time in the back of the hall. This new and engaging utilization of cutting-edge technologies and devices offers new dimension to young, technically savvy concert-goers.
Michael Christie conducts the same Phoenix Symphony program again at Friday morning Coffee Concert, Nov. 7 at 11:00 a.m., and Saturday, Nov. 8 at 8:00 p.m. at Symphony Hall in downtown Phoenix. Call for tickets: (602) 495-1999 or (800) 776-9080.
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