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Music Notes: A la Romantica

By David Amos  
San Diego Jewish Times, January 1, 2006

The spectrum of classical music offers the listener many choices. From the early music of Medieval and Renaissance times, to the majesty of the Baroque of Bach and Handel, the “classical” sounds of Mozart and Haydn, to the Romanticism of the 19^th century, the Impressionists, and that all-encompassing era we call Modern Music.

But invariably, what attracts audiences the most is Romantic music, roughly starting with Beethoven and Schubert, and continuing well into the 20^th century and our times by a group of dedicated but stalwart traditionalists who composed high quality music that is more easily accessible on a first hearing.

The Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra will present a program featuring three Romantic works, from its early period; Chopin, from the late 19^th century; Tchaikovsky; and one of the most lyrical works (which you may not recognize at first, but once you hear it you’ll be glad that you were there), by Howard Hanson, on Jan. 31, 2006, 7:30 p.m., at Tifereth Israel Synagogue’s Cohen Social Hall.

Howard Hanson is a leading member of a select group of 20^th century composers that remained traditional in their style, despite the strong trends that changed serious concert music of the last 100 years. His Symphony No. 2, “The Romantic” is considered among the finest examples of what a symphony should be. He is best described in this excerpt by James Lyons:

 “On the face of it, one might say that Hanson was an esthetic anachronism. But one would be wrong. For this pre-eminent mentor of the Avant-Garde did not hold with the notion that Romanticism is a thing of the past. He saw it not as a period, but a style, or better yet, perhaps, as a creative point of view without relation to time. History could not provide a clearer vindication of this stance than the present revival of his works in the concert halls and on record. Coincidentally, for the purpose at hand, Hanson nowhere defined his artistic philosophy better than he did in 1930 with his Romantic Symphony.”

Recently, music critic Walter Simmons wrote a book titled Voices in the Wilderness, Six American Neo-Romantic Composers. They are Samuel Barber, Paul Creston, Ernest Bloch, Vittorio Giannini, Nicolas Flagello, and, you guessed it, Howard Hanson. Most recommended reading.

The TICO Orchestra will also play one of the all-time concert favorites, Tchaikovsky’s Overture-Fantasy to Romeo and Juliet. Based on Shakespeare’s play, the music takes us through the tragic and heroic moments of the two young lovers. This is music that pours out emotion, and is one of the prime examples of Romantic program music, which not only attempts to make beautiful sounds, but is also retelling a famous story through music. It also reflects so much of the composer’s troubled life.

We are privileged to have as a guest artist pianist Barry Goldsmith. He has won international acclaim performing in such major cities as New York, Baltimore, Washington DC, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Vancouver, London, Edinburgh, Brussels, The Hague, Oslo, and Milan. The New York Times praised him for his “lyric sensitivity and pianistic fluency,” and “clearly a pianist and musician of quality.” His other reviews praise his “romanticism and passion” and his “brilliant qualities of virtuosity.”

His early studies were at the Manhattan School of Music, and the Peabody Conservatory. He continued his advanced studies at Indiana University with Sidney Foster. He has won countless competitions and prizes, and has been honored with many awards.

Two years ago, I had the pleasure to conduct a recording with Barry and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, in Glasgow. We recorded three world premieres, two piano concertos by Isidor Achron, who was Jascha Heifetz’s accompanist in the 1930s, and a Fantasy by Lazar Saminsky, based on melodies from the Kol Nidre. Incidentally, both Achron and Saminsky came from the “New Russian School of Jewish Music,” a group of young musicians from St. Petersburg who were students of Rimsky-Korsakov at the beginning of the 20^th century. More on this fascinating school and its members in a future column.

Barry Goldsmith will play the well known and beloved Piano Concerto No. 1 in e minor, by Frederick Chopin.

For more information on this concert call the Synagogue office, 619-297-6001. The program will be presented two other times in local church venues.