Program
Fanfare from The King's Row by Korngold.
Suite from Lieutenant Kije by Prokofiev.
Adagio sostenuto from Piano Concerto No. 2 by Rachmaninoff.
The Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walkure by Wagner/Hutschenruyter.
Imperial March from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back by John Williams.
Hedwig's Theme from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by Williams.
Selections from Star Wars by Williams
- Anakin's Theme from Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
- Princess Leia's Theme from Episode IV: A New Hope.
- Rey's Theme from Episode VI: The Force Awakens.
- Main Title from Episode IV: A New Hope.
Host - Brett Boles.
Zhang led the first half of the program.
This concert wasn't part of the NJ Symphony "season" we got last year. Our crowded calendar made it necessary to switch to tickets for this concert. Anne was feeling well enough that she decided she could attend, I did drop/off close to Count Basie so she didn't have to do the long(ish) walk from the Red Bank Train Station.
The concert had two conductors: Zhang did the first half, consisting of pieces from Korngold, Prokofiev, and Rachmaninoff; Altarriba, a Colton Fellow originally from Cuba, conducted the second half, which featured John Williams music scores from well-known movies. The host, Brett Boles from Connecticut, provided some interesting (and often funny) commentary during the concert.
The concert did generate a few takeaways for me. The most prominent aspect is Altarriba conducting. With the cooperation of the orchestra, she did an excellent job. It also helped that many of the themes in the music were well-known.
Someone not familiar with the Korngold piece would be excused in thinking it was composed by Williams. That Williams somehow borrowed from Korngold was news to me. To be fair, a search of the web would return references that Williams does cite Korngold as his inspiration.
The story behind the fictional character Lieutenant Kije is quite interesting. Boles referred to the Suite by Prokofiev as (possibly) the first time such a composition is extracted from music composed for a movie. The five movements in the Suite refer to Kije's birth, romance, marriage, ride on a horse-drawn sleigh, and death; and it was relatively easy to follow.
Rachmaninoff's music is often used in movies and ballets. The movement heard today was made famous by the film "Brief Encounter" (so says the Program Notes). I do think the concerto is well-known and well-regarded in its own right, but being included in a movie makes it much wider known.
Boles provided commentary on the program which was insightful. Why did they have to bring someone in from Connecticut? The well-dressed person standing in attention just opened the lid on the piano.
Min Kwon performed the Rachmaninoff movement.
Altarriba enjoyed her chance to conduct in front of a live (and quite substantial) audience.
Boles also described how Anakin's theme was related to Darth Vader's theme, and that John Williams had over 60 lietmotifs in his music scores for the Star Wars episodes. The rest of the program explored three of the character themes.
The pianist Kwon teaches at Rutgers, and she played Debussy's Clair de Lune as an encore. At the end of the concert a Star Wars theme was played as an encore.
Attendance was very good - although still far from being sold out. Many people treat this as a pop concert, in that talking and looking at cell phones during the performance were widely practiced. I even got the feeling that when the music was loud those who were inclined to converse raised their voices to be heard. Perhaps a fair price to be paid for a well-attended event.
Next week would be NJ Symphony's last program for the year, and Trifonov is performing. I wonder how crowded the auditorium would be (two weeks in a row at Red Bank!).
One does wonder why Zhang chose to conduct only the first half. Of course this gave Altarriba an excellent opportunity to appear before a reasonable audience, and she acquitted herself well.
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