{"id":9925,"date":"2013-03-07T12:36:59","date_gmt":"2013-03-07T16:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/?p=9925"},"modified":"2013-03-24T21:44:17","modified_gmt":"2013-03-25T01:44:17","slug":"i-love-youth-orchestras","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/?p=9925","title":{"rendered":"I Love Youth Orchestras"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Sedgwick Clark<\/strong><\/p>\n

NOTE: MY BLOG\u00a0IS NOW POSTED\u00a0ON THURSDAYS AT NOON RATHER THAN WEDNESDAYS.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why? The kids aren\u2019t jaded. No repertoire is too daunting. Their enthusiasm nearly always makes up for any momentary technical shortcoming. One skips concerts at Juilliard at his or her peril and often encounters first-rate conductors that the Philharmonic has neglected. Carnegie Hall\u2019s Weill Music Institute just announced a new summer training residency for students from 42 states. Beginning in late June, they will train at Purchase College (N.Y.) and be conducted in their first concerts by Valery Gergiev, with Joshua Bell as soloist in Tchaikovsky\u2019s Violin Concerto. Shostakovich\u2019s Tenth Symphony and a new work by American composer Sean Shepherd complete the program, to be performed at Washington, D.C.\u2019s Kennedy Center, and in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and London (dates tba). <\/strong><\/p>\n

The ensemble\u2019s name, \u201cNational Youth Orchestra of the United States of America,\u201d reminds me of a thrilling concert I heard in London in 1977 by the National Youth Orchestra of Britain. Pierre Boulez conducted one of his signature programs: Bart\u00f3k, Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta<\/em>; Berg, Violin Concerto, with Itzhak Perlman as soloist; Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring<\/em>. Afterwards, he couldn\u2019t contain his excitement at having conducted The Rite <\/em>with 146 players. I counted 16 double basses and equivalent numbers in the other string bodies in MUSPAC<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Berg boasted large orchestral forces as well, but with Boulez\u2019s impeccable ear Perlman soared effortlessly throughout. I had heard Boulez conduct the concerto twice before in concert as well as on record twice, and in each case he downplayed the Viennese dance rhythms in the first movement \u2013 but not with Perlman. I saw the violinist at the Aspen Music Festival later that year and asked him how he had gotten Boulez to loosen up. With typical Perlmanian cheer he flipped his right arm in the air dramatically, saying with a grin, \u201cI said, Pierre \u2013 dance<\/em>!”<\/p>\n

Some readers may find it odd for me to be essentially reviewing a 36-year-old concert performance, but I just wanted to recall how satisfying a student performance can be. Those British Youths roared through Boulez\u2019s interpretation of The Rite <\/em>with far more fire than in either of his Cleveland recordings or a later London Symphony performance at Carnegie. I heard several concerts during that three-week stay, but damned if I can remember any of the others.<\/p>\n

The critics raved, cluelessly expressing astonishment that the young players were so adept in such \u201cdifficult\u201d music \u2013 seemingly unaware that the complex rhythms and dissonant harmonies were second nature to their generation. I would like to look forward to the National Youths of the U.S., but\u00a0for some reason\u00a0they won\u2019t be playing in New York, just rehearsing in Westchester. Maybe next year.<\/p>\n

Chicago\u2019s Legendary Dale Clevenger to Retire<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mahler\u2019s Fifth Symphony begins with a trudging funeral march before bursting out into a wild allegro that climaxes as six French horns whoop up the scale. For over 43 years that rip-roaring moment in a Carnegie Hall performance on January 9, 1970, with the Chicago Symphony under Georg Solti, has remained vividly in my mind. For years thereafter their concerts would be the toughest ticket in town, and at the end of this season, the man leading the horn charge will retire. Dale Clevenger will have been the Chicago Symphony\u2019s principal horn player for 47 years when he moves on to teach at Indiana University. His was a level of artistry I\u2019ll never forget.<\/p>\n

Looking Forward<\/strong><\/p>\n

My week\u2019s scheduled concerts (8:00 p.m. unless otherwise noted):<\/p>\n

3\/11 Carnegie Hall. Stephanie Blythe, mezzo-soprano; Warren Jones, piano. James Legg: Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson<\/em>. Barber: Three Songs, Op. 3. American Songbook classics by Ray Henderson, Cole Porter, Edward Confrey, and Irving Berlin.<\/p>\n

3\/14 Carnegie Hall at 7:00. Orchestra of St. Luke\u2019s\/Patrick Summers; Ren\u00e9e Fleming<\/strong> (Blanche), Teddy Tahu Rhodes<\/strong> (Stanley), Anthony Dean Griffey<\/strong> (Mitch), Jane <\/strong>Bunnell <\/strong>(Eunice), Andrew Bidlack (<\/strong>Young Collector), and Dominic Armstrong <\/strong>(Steve). Semi-staged performance directed by Brad Dalton<\/strong>. Andr\u00e9 Previn: A Streetcar Named Desire<\/em>.<\/p>\n