Count Basie Theater, Red Bank, NJ. (Balcony, Seat E113, $50.)
Program
Louise Farrenc Overture No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 23.
Juan Pablo Jofre Double Concerto for Violin and Bandoneon, No. 1
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74, "Pathetique"
Titling this concert "Tchaikovsky's Pathetique" may be a bit misleading as the first half consists of two works that are seldom heard in concerts. Farrenc was a Frenchwoman who died in 1875, and Jofre is an Argentina native who lives in New York.
Dominguez leads the NJ Symphony Youth Orchestra. We saw him on a couple occasions conducting the NJSO in outdoor concerts in Red Bank.
Ferrenc's piece was quite short, at less than ten minutes. After listening to the overture for a while, I thought I would mistake it with one of Rossini's, given how light-hearted it sounded. My original thinking was I was off as Rossini certainly was one of these "old" opera composers. Turns out Rossini died in 1868, so it is safe to assume they were contemporaries. Of course I do not know if they had met one another or had exerted a mutual influence. Also, a musicologist may be able to tell how French and Italian musical styles were different at that time.
Per the Program Notes, Jofre is an award-winning bandoneon player and composer. The piece heard tonight "fuses Western classical tradition with his Argentinian nuevo tango heritage. He cites Bach, Bartok, Stravinsky and Piazzolla as major compositional influences ... Jofre challenges the conventional approach to violin, writing for it in a percussive manner (and occasionally using the violin itself as a percussion instrument)." Them fighting words. For sure this was the first written for a violin and bandoneon, but beyond that I am not so sure. Not knowing much about the bandoneon, I can't tell the level of virtuosity that was involved - although a lot seemed to be in support of the violin solo. On the other hand, the violin part seemed extremely challenging, beginning with a rather rapid succession of double stops. I usually have mixed feelings about Wyrick's solo lines, but today he was most impressive, despite having some problems with harmonics. The violin sounded great - better than the sound of Koh's violin a few days ago.
Wyrck, Dominguez, and Jofre. One sees string players, a pianist, and a timpanist in this photo. The Program also lists a guiro, a triangle, and a bass drum.
The Bandoneon. Most people would think it's an accordion.
The music was reasonably captivating and interesting. However, after 10 minutes or so I thought I had heard enough. The entire piece was about 20 minutes.
Much has been said about how Tchaikovsky died eight days after the premiere of his last work, Symphony No. 6. Today's Program Notes has a new take (for me) on why he (perhaps) drank poison. It had to do with his alleged relationship with a young boy, and Tchaikovsky was asked to commit suicide to not embarrass the School of Jurisprudence that the composer attended some thirty years prior.
The Symphony is a challenge to any orchestra, and I am surprised that NJSO decided to take it on. My overall reaction: technically things seemed fine, but the overall performance lacked the "passion" or "pathos" one expected. Which all-in-all isn't a bad outcome.
After the Pathetique.
And, I am glad to say, it's no longer a "Jekyll and Hyde" ensemble, a term I used to describe NJSO when Lacombe was the conductor. The orchestra did well with Lacombe leading, but would collapse under guest conductors. Of course, Dominguez is a regular.
The concert was actually quite well attended, even though there were still quite a few empty seats in the balcony. As with the State Theater, there were a lot of renovations done during the pandemic hiatus. The auditorium still had the same feel as before things however were a lot "cleaner."
There is the addition of a proper lobby in the Balcony.
The auditorium has the same feel it did in the past. The seats were reupholstered.
Half-time waits at bathrooms are considerably shortened with additional facilities.
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