Princeton Plays 20th Century Classics and Impresses

The program of Britten's Four Sea-Interludes, Barber's Violin Concerto and Copland's (complete) Appalachian Spring would be impressive for any university orchestra to perform well. The fact that this was the Princeton Orchestra's first concert with just about six weeks of rehearsal made this program seem almost daring.

From the first intricacies of the rhythms and textures in the opening of the Britten it was clear that the orchestra was capable of performing this program. There were some minor flaws, mostly revolving around rhythmic uncertainty, but overall the quality of playing is quite high. Particularly impressive were the woodwinds, especially in the Copland.

I am not as familiar with the Four Sea Interludes, or Britten's music in general, but it is quite a cool piece! He plays with the rhythms, harmonies and textures consistently to keep the piece moving. The opening of the second movement almost felt like a precursor to minimalism with its repeated motifs. Maybe I've been studying for lit hum too much, but the piece felt like it could have been the soundtrack to the Odyssey.

The Barber Violin Concerto featured Princeton faculty member Sunghae Anna Lim as soloist. Her performance was technically sound and emotionally charged. She was solid without being imposing. I enjoyed hearing it performed in a smaller concert hall because some of the violin lines came through better with the thickly orchestrated accompaniment threatening to cover them up.

Since I tend to like fast music more, I have always favored the last movement, but the first two are also quite magnificent. I had forgotten how relaxed and tonally the first movement opens. It made the piece feel more like a journey to the harmonic language it eventually reaches. The performance of the last movement bristled with excitement and Lim really dug into each note. The audience showed its praise with a lengthy applause.

Appalachian Spring has a few moments which are especially moving and I could feel myself getting goosebumps at this performance. In the second section of the piece, the brass fugue with the whole orchestra crescendo as it returns to the tonic is quite satisfying! In the simple gifts section, when the the bass voice joins to make it a three part canon, something about the simplicity of the melody, yet the complexity of what is happening makes it truly moving. Similar to Bach, you don't have to understand that the voices are being layered with the same material at different speeds to know that it just feels right!

In his program notes the conductor noted that the insert section which is usually left out "brings a darkness to the piece that makes the final sunburst and closing prayer all the more powerful." I could not agree more. The new section added to the pieces overall journey and showed Copland's darker side, which is sadly present from many of his most popular works. The brass playing was quite impressive in the fast fugue section and the slow statement of the simple gifts theme at the end. The very end of the piece fades out with a beautiful chord. The final diminuendo was executed perfectly. Somehow these fade out endings leave the listener more satisfied then a bombastic drive to the finish, which certainly could have worked here too. This however made the journey feel complete, a parallel between the pieces opening tenderness and closing frailty.