Mendelssohn & Sean Shepherd (World Premiere) @ Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Photos courtesy of Dallas Symphony Orchestra
—Wayne Lee Gay
The nineteenth century lionized the music of Mendelssohn; ensuing eras not so much. By the late twentieth century, his works were served up mainly by amateur choral societies, upscale Protestant church choirs, and polite young people who played the piano.
Recent years, however, have witnessed a rise in Mendelssohn's stock, as evidenced this weekend by impressive performances of his Symphony No. 3 ("Scottish"} by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and conductor Fabio Luisi.
During his lifetime, Britain adored Mendelssohn (he counted Queen Victoria and Prince Albert among his biggest fans), and the feeling was mutual. A walking tour of Scotland provided the young composer with inspiration from the region's rugged landscape, jaunty folk tunes, and dark, romantic history. The tunes and gestures give the Scottish Symphony an immediately appealing air—so appealing, indeed, that the intellectual musical establishment tended in the past to overlook Mendelssohn's truly inspired command of musical material and structure.
Conductor Luisi impressively demonstrates his connection with the work's significance in the opening passage, underlining the interplay of textures, carried over neatly throughout that movement. Luisi continues the momentum (though in a different direction) during the second movement, with its unmistakably Scottish melody as the main theme.
The long, slow Adagio movement offers the greatest challenge to conductors; once again, Luisi finds the subtle textures to maintain the dramatic tension in this evocation of the Scotland of legend and history. Momentum becomes irresistible and magical in the Finale, crowned in the final moments with the introduction of a grand melody and spine-chilling musical apotheosis. The angst and despair of his fellow romantics is largely absent in Mendelssohn's music, but his immaculate musical architecture and controlled, rational emotionalism make his music worthy of attention in the twenty-first century.
The Mendelssohn symphony follows intermission in a program devoted, in its first half, to works of two living composers. Robert Xavier Rodriguez, a San Antonio native, has served on the faculty at the University of Texas at Dallas for decades while creating a hugely significant body of music—one that is both a regional and national treasure. His five-minute Adagio for Small Orchestra, the program’s opening work, is a marvel of gorgeous lyricism constantly emerging from an intriguingly complex texture.
Chicago-based Sean Shepherd's Concerto for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon receives its world premiere in these concerts, with Dallas Symphony principals (flutist David Buck, oboist Erin Hannigan, clarinetist Gregory Raden, and bassoonist Ted Soluri) as featured soloists. Structurally, the work evokes the baroque concerto grosso with its multiple soloists, as well as the traditional classical and romantic three-movment concerto.
Solo flute opens the first movement ("Strolling Treble"), with each soloist skillfully navigating Shepherd's demanding and unfailingly colorful intricacies. Darker, jagged themes dominate the brief second movement ("Heavy Machinery"). The title of the third movement, "Ganymede," refers possibly to: A) one of the moons of the planet Jupiter, B) the god Jupiter's male lover, or C) both, with a sometimes playful, sometimes serene, sometimes other-worldly aura.
WHEN: April 17-19, 2025
WHERE: Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas
WEB: dallassymphony.org
