PHILHARMONIC TAKES THE BERLIOZ CHALLENGE

Symphonie Fantastique executed flawlessly. Markus Groh treats Fresno to the real Brahms.

By George Warren - April 19, 2010

The Fresno Philharmonic and maestro Theodore Kuchar transformed Berlioz’s wild and unruly nightmare into a masterpiece worthy of comparison to the more formal works of Schubert, Schumann, and Mahler. From the gentle opening notes of Symphonie Fantastique to the gigantic crashing ending, a combination of high drama and precision music-making filled the Saroyan Theatre Saturday. Also on the program: music by Dvorak and pianist Markus Groh with Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor.

The program began with Dvorak’s Slavonic Dance in C major, Op. 46, No. 1, a cheerful piece of music. It was a good idea to include this morsel considering the severity of the Brahms Piano Concerto and the Berlioz. The orchestra reached out its smiling hand and greeted the audience to a happy welcome of springtime.

The good cheer turned dark with the Brahms Piano Concerto. One may hear the shimmering trills at the opening in a variety of moods, but there is an undeniable contrast between the cheery rhetoric of the Dvorak and the serious and calculated construction of the Brahms. The orchestra worked as accompanist through much of the music, setting up the featured artist at the Steinway.

Markus Groh reached deep to find the meaning of the music, beginning with his quiet entrance and including a wide range of expression. One component of his playing that stood out was the presentation of Brahms’s rhythmic style. Groh didn’t bury the polyrhythms into mush with the sustain pedal. Instead, he let the jagged edges crash against each other, and the effect rung true to the composer and the score.

In the third movement, there were some points where the quick tempo obscured the thematic material. Some of the counterpoint in the orchestra was lost, and the rhythm of the theme was inconsistent. On the upside, the tempo made the charge to the end very exciting and brought the audience right to its feet.

Nothing in the Berlioz fell short. This score is filled with awkward tempo changes, sudden shifts of mood or theme, and a variety of characters telling a story in music. Often, the dramatic elements are put to the fore and the musical elements suffer, creating an imprecise overall sound. Not so with Kuchar and the Phiharmonic. Through very careful attention to detail, the story was told with absolute cohesion in all five movements, with the music being the whole point, and the story being mere background material.

At the beginning, woodwinds and strings offer a delicate introduction, and every musician played in tune and blended with the others. This crystal clear rendering pervaded every movement. In the second, the music danced, and in the third, it sang.

The fourth movement, famously titled “March to the Scaffold,” where the main character in the story is executed, turns serious. Here, the percussionists are featured, and they created a nearly visual sense of tension with their wide range of dynamic intensity.

Finally, in the fifth movement that features the famous Dies Irae melody, the brass have the opportunity to blast over the entire orchestra. One percussionist climbed up to an elevated set of chimes, long metal tubes that were about fifteen feet off the stage, and she tolled the tragic passing of the character and the brass mourned. This is all set in the midst music that celebrates a witches Sabbath, and this odd blend built up to a huge ending that must have been audible to the street outside.

The Fresno Philharmonic met every demand of this score and the outcome made a very tricky composition memorable for all the right reasons.