New Jersey Symphony Orchestra – Xian Zhang, conductor. April 5, 2019.

Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark, NJ. Orchestra Grand Tier (Seat D101, $25).

Program

Samaagam: A Concerto for Sarod, Concertante Group and String Orchestra (2008) by Khan (b. 1945).

Scheherazade, Op. 35 (1888) by Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908).

Sarod musicians: Amjad Ali Khan, Amaan Ali Bangash, Ayaan Ali Bangash.

This was my first encounter with the sarod.  The artists today were from a long line of sarod players (sixth and seventh generation) whose ancestors were credited with (possibly) inventing the instrument.  We got to the auditorium at about 7:15 pm, so heard the last 15 minutes or so of the “Classical Conversation” with the three musicians, and I read up a little on the instrument and Indian music.  Frankly that wasn’t enough to give me a good understanding.  I debated and decided to jot down a few “facts” while they are still relatively fresh in my mind (I am typing the Sunday night, the concert was Friday night) in case I want to come back to it.  It is very likely I got some of the information wrong.

The sarod is a plucked instrument, without frets, with four to five main strings.  There are also a few drone strings (to produce key-related pedal points) and ten or so sympathetic strings tuned to resonating frequencies of the music, to add to the fulness of the tone, I suppose.  Indian music is based on ragas, which have no Western music equivalent, and the composer Amjad Ali Khan adapted more than 10 in this piece, with the title conveying his idea “to preserve the essence of both Indian and Western traditions … without artistic compromise.”  He couldn’t read western music, so he solicited a friend to help jotting things down for him.  What I didn’t hear was how the orchestration was developed. The Program lists “first chair strings have concertante parts,” so what were the flute and bassoon doing in the ensemble?  While we are on the subject of puzzling issues, why are Ali Khan’s sons called Ali Bangash?

A Sarod on sale I found on the web.  This lists for 35,000 rupees, a little over US$500.

The movements of the work are: Ganesh Kalyan, Kalavati Medley, Basant Medley, Megh Medley, Bhupali, Bhairavi.  There was this pair of drums called table that was used throughout the piece, they mentioned the drummer’s name, but he wasn’t listed in the program.

Zhang explained how she came across these musicians.  She was asked to conduct a concert in Dubai with the Welsh National Orchestra, and this was on the program.  She thought it would be good to introduce the music to an American audience, and the piece would pair well with Scheherazade in a “East meets West” program.

While I have no problem with that, I frankly didn’t get much out of the piece other than some level of satisfaction that I learned something that I otherwise wouldn’t have sought to learn.  The music was easy enough on the ear, and sounded simple enough that I could follow the lines, but I felt through out it engaged the intellectual part of my brain rather than the emotional part.  Since the music is popular in India, I do wonder how much learning and exposure will be needed for me to appreciate it.

 After the pre-concert talk, the musicians tuned their instruments.

Zhang with the composer (and performer) Ali Khan.  On their left are Ali Khan's two sons.  Notice the tabla player on the other side of the stage.

Scheherazade in contrast was easy to enjoy.  Rimsky-Korsakov managed to give the music a distinct Eastern feel using traditional Western instruments.  In the Program Notes the unfashionable descriptions of the movements were again dropped, in its place were these mundane notations: Largo e maestoso – Allegro non troppo; Lento – Allegro molto; Andantino quasi allegretto; and Allegro molto.  Fine, but was it really Scheherazade who withdrawn the description?  Or was it how tides turn with how musicologists view things?  The composer died over 100 years ago, and they only found out (or started to conform with his wishes) recently?

Whatever program one used tonight, the concert was enjoyable.  Wyrick had quite a few solo lines, some rather difficult, and he did very well, other than a slight intonation problem here or there.  Anne’s only issue was the volume of the violin.  My previous live encounters with the piece was with Dicterow and Huang playing the solos.  I had a lot of problem with Dicterow, and remarked that “if Huang continues to perform the way he did, people would soon forget about Dicterow.”

After the performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade.

Anne and I were in Parsippany early afternoon to set up a display at a church’s missions conference, and were done by a time that didn’t make sense to go back to South Amboy.  We had a quick bite at Jersey Gardens Mall.  Had I remembered there was a pre-concert talk, we would have eaten faster to get to NJPAC in time.