Entertainment News 

'Flights of Fancy' begins PVS concert season
12/26/06
By CLIFTON J. NOBLE JR. 
Music writer 

2006 The Republican Company. All rights reserved. Used with permission of The Republican http://www.repub.com

It will be worth the price of admission to the Pioneer Valley Symphony's opening concert just to hear mezzo-soprano Joan Morris and her composer/pianist-husband William Bolcom perform "Lime Jello, Marshmallow, Cottage Cheese Surprise."

Concert-goers have a far greater wealth of intriguing listening in store Saturday at Smith College's John M. Greene Hall, as Maestro Paul Phillips and the PVS present "Flights of Fancy," the first concert of the orchestra's 68th season.

Bolcom's three-movement "Inventing Flight" is the centerpiece of the orchestral program. Commissioned by the North Carolina Symphony and the Dayton (Ohio) Philharmonic to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903, "Inventing Flight" was premiered in April 2003.

According to Pioneer Valley Symphony Music Director Paul Phillips, the first movement of "Inventing Flight" is a vivid tone poem, with distinct themes and orchestration recalling the headstrong exploits of the mythical flyer Icarus ("an impetuous, forceful, ascending motif in the brass") and his father Daedalus, ("the deep, brooding sound of the solo cello, treated in a quasi-operatic, almost vocal manner" and played by principal cellist Phillip Helzer. Representing a more Earth-bound facet of Bolcom's artistry, his "Cabaret Songs" follow "Inventing Flight." Five of the songs are orchestrated by the composer; "Surprise!," "The Actor," "Song of Black Max," "The Total Stranger in the Garden," and "George." Bolcom and Morris will excerpt further from the "Cabaret Songs" with piano, announcing their selections from the stage, but "Lime Jello" is promised.

"I think I first heard Joan Morris sing cabaret songs at Aspen as a student there 25 years ago," Phillips recalled, "and I attended my first Bill Bolcom concert long before that, when I was about 15 and went to New York with my father to hear Bolcom play ragtime."

"Over the years I've conducted numerous Bolcom pieces," he continued, "including 'Commedia', Violin Concerto (with Sergio Luca, for whom it was written), 'Seattle Slew' Suite, "The Mask," all wonderful works. Performances of 'Inventing Flight' that I conducted with the Brown University Orchestra in 2003, the year Bolcom composed it, may have been the first ones by an orchestra other than those that commissioned it."

"If any one piece is the 'seed' of this program, it's 'Inventing Flight,' whose 'flying' theme led to the decision to surround it with (Wagner's) 'The Flying Dutchman' Overture, and (Stravinsky's) 'The Firebird' Suite," Phillips said.

Setting the stage for the spectral sea-farer doomed to wander the waves until he is redeemed by the faithful love of a woman, the "Flying Dutchman" overture brews the storms, both literal and psychological, that drive the opera and its protagonist onward.

The "Firebird" Suite is drawn from Stravinsky's ballet based on the Russian folktale in which Prince Ivan, wandering the night-shrouded forest, enters a magic garden where golden apples grow on silver trees, wins the magic feather of the Firebird, and uses it to break the evil spell of the sorcerer Kashchei. Pioneer Valley has played this work several times, including Phillip's first concert as music director of the orchestra in 1994.

"Flights of Fancy" marks the launch of "In Concert With," a partnership between the Pioneer Valley Symphony and community organizations. Through collaborations with Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity (the partner for opening night), Franklin County Medical Center, Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, Artspace, Greenfield Community College Foundation and Relay for Life in Franklin County, the symphony hopes to raise public awareness of these groups and provide financial support by donating to each concert's partner one dollar from every ticket sold. In turn, each partner organization will work to increase audiences for symphony performances.

Opening night is also the fifth annual Nathan Gottschalk Memorial Concert, commemorating that conductor's long service (1956-1993) to the orchestra. Bolcom and Morris will receive Nathan Gottschalk Awards.

Much more excellent music is in store for Pioneeer Valley concertgoers this season, including a flute concerto written by Christopher Rouse for Carol Wincenc, a frequent guest of Mohawk Trail Concerts, on Feb. 10, the brilliant Arutyunyan Trumpet Concerto with soloist Eric Berlin on April 14, symphonies by Beethoven, No. 6, and Brahms, No. 2, an Italian opera gala on May 19, and a choral concert directed by Alexandra Ludwig on Feb. 25 which will combine the symphony's chorus, the Springfield College Singers, and the Select Women's Ensemble from Northfield Mount Hermon School.

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