San Antonio Symphony, Ken-David Masur
A young conductor blooms
October 23, 2010It would seem that Ken-David Masur, now in his fourth season as resident conductor of the San Antonio Symphony, crossed a line sometime this year -- the line between skill and talent.
On Oct. 22 in the Majestic Theater, Masur led the orchestra in a program of Italian works from three centuries. The main event was Gioacchino Rossini’s setting of the Stabat Mater, with the Mastersingers chorus and a quite good quartet of vocal soloists. The orchestra opened with Antonio Vivaldi’s terse but perfectly formed Concerto “Alla Rustica” for strings and continuo. The centerpiece (garish or colorful, depending on one’s taste) was Ottorino Respighi’s “The Pines of Rome.”
In his previous outing on the classical subscription series, last February, Masur did a fine job in three full-bore Romantic works. He conducted with “crisp diction, fleet tempos, a wide dynamic range and quite a good sense of line,” I wrote of that concert.
The same qualities were in evidence again eight months on, but this time they melded into organic interpretations that were more than the sum of their skills. It was as though Masur had grown confident enough in his abilities, and comfortable enough with his orchestra, to let technique be a given. He was making music, and making it from a distinctive point of view -- fluid, sensuous, energetic, emphatic.
Sense of line has been one of Masur’s consistent strengths, but in this concert -- particularly in Vivaldi and Rossini -- the lines were woven into long, coherent paragraphs. Tempi and dynamics were beautifully (not excessively) shaped to support the line. It all seemed to unfold naturally. There were a couple of momentary ensemble mishaps, but on the whole the performances were taut and precise.
In the Stabat Mater, the Mastersingers chorus was generally on firm ground, though in unaccompanied movements some slight pitch problems emerged. The powerhouse soprano Heidi Melton and the bright-edged bass of Kevin Maynor made a particularly good impression. Tenor Rusell Thomas was a little underpowered but very attractive. Mezzo-soprano Margaret Lattimore conveyed an excellent sense of the text, though she was vocally patchy at times. But she started with a competitive disadvantage: Florence Quivar's glorious singing in the 1984 San Antonio Festival performance of the Rossini Stabat Mater is still resonating in my ears.
“The Pines of Rome” is a showpiece of orchestration -- and I can’t hear it without thinking of its compatriot and coincident showpiece of political orchestration, the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini. Unfair? Maybe. But that manipulative, grandiose, triumphal finale....
At any rate, the piece was dazzlingly played, with terrific solo work from (among others) principal clarinet Ilya Shterenberg, principal English horn Stephanie Shapiro and principal trumpet John Carroll. The whole brass section, with extra brass deployed at opposite ends of the mezzanine, made a splendid (and very loud) sound in the finale. Alas, the recorded nightingale call in the third movement sounded at times like Daffy Duck.
Coda: Two new Chevy Volts were on display and available for test drives outside the Majestic Theater through the evening. They’re handsome cars, battery powered but with gasoline generators to keep them electrified when the batteries use up their charges.
Not to be outdone, however, in the quest to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, symphony general manager David Filner shuttled between his office and the theater on a micro-scooter. One can only speculate as to the fluid that powered his generator, but it was unlikely to be a petroleum product. Orange juice, perhaps?
Mike
Greenberg
