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  Midori and Festival Strings Lucerne present a masterful performance at Emory’s Schwartz Center

  Posted by Music on November 17, 2023 at 8:52 pm

  CONCERT REVIEW:

  Midori with Festival Strings Lucerne
  November 16, 2023
  Schwartz Center for Performing Arts
  Atlanta, Georgia – USA
  Midori, violin; Festival Strings Lucerne (Daniel Dodds, artistic director/leader).
  Arthur HONNEGER: Pastorale d’été (Summer Pastorale)
  Richard DUBUGNON: Caprice IV, “Es muss sein!”
  Robert SCHUMANN: Violin Concerto in D minor, WoO 23
  Ludwig van BEETHOVEN: Romance in F major, Op. 50
  Ludwig van BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92
  

  William Ford | 17 NOV 2023

  One of the advantages of having a local university is that it can sponsor music events that might otherwise not be available, in part because one or more local art institutions tend to dominate the local market. For example, Emory University brings in small or medium-sized touring ensembles that fill gaps in Atlanta’s classical music scene.

  On Thursday evening, Emory’s Schwartz Center for Performing Arts, with support from the Candler Concert Series, hosted the renowned Festival Strings Lucerne (FSL), with guest violinist the mononym Midori. The chamber-sized FSL tours frequently with its artistic director and leader, Daniel Dodds, who conducts the ensemble from the first chair of the violins.

  The program began with Arthur Honegger’s Pastorale d’été (“Summer Pastorale”), a charming and picturesque piece for chamber orchestra. Composed in 1920, it attempts to capture the essence of a serene and idyllic summer landscape. Honegger, whose music seems to be in eclipse lately, was a Swiss composer who incorporated elements of neoclassicism, modernism, and impressionism; the Pastorale is a compositional descent of Debussy and Ravel. It is an atmospheric and expressive piece with gentle melodies and harmonies.

  Unfortunately, the performance of the FSL seemed unfocused, and its sound seemed thin and unintegrated; it seemed to lack strong ensemble, and balances between the FSL’s sections seemed to be off. This was possibly due to the auditorium’s acoustics or the need for warm-up, but the performance did not make a strong case for Honegger. Even though the piece was written for a chamber orchestra, it lacked the lushness that a larger group might provide. At times, I found myself wanting a full-time conductor to bring the performance together.

  Up next was Richard Dubugnon’s Caprice IV, “Es muss sein!” (2017). The piece is the composer’s meditation on a question written by Beethoven at the bottom of a page of his last string quartet, “Muss es sein” (“Must it be?”), and the apparent response written in the treble clef, “Es muss sein! Es muss sein!” (“It must be! It must be!”). The meaning of this question and response has been debated over the years, and composer Dubugnon, who is a bass player in the FSL, decided to use the phrases as leitmotifs in the Caprice. They are announced, modified, transformed, tossed around the orchestra’s sections, twisted, and otherwise developed. While I admired the composer’s technical skills for slicing and dicing the themes, I found it a difficult piece to listen to or enjoy.

  To close the program’s first half, violin legend Midori joined the FSL for a performance of Robert Schumann’s Violin Concerto in D minor, composed in 1853. Midori has had a long career after being introduced at age 11 in a New York Philharmonic concert. She has been praised for her technical brilliance, purity of tone, and expression. However, during her last performance with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, she was often inaudible, with the orchestra often overwhelming her. In this performance, the less cavernous hall combined with the smaller size of the FSL enabled her masterful performance to be easily heard and appreciated.

  The concerto itself is rarely performed and has been criticized for its less-than-ideal orchestration and its structural weakness, including poor thematic development and lack of cohesion. It was Schumann’s last orchestral work, and while it is replete with beautiful romantic sounds, it seems to drift listlessly, leaving the listener without memorable themes, as one finds in the concerto of Tchaikovsky or Brahms or Mendelssohn, for example. During portions of this performance, FSL balances again seemed off, with the French horns being too loud. Midori’s playing, however, was flawless.

  After the intermission, Midori again joined the FSL with a lush, beautiful performance of Beethoven’s lush and beautiful Romance in F major, Op. 50 (1798). The piece is in rondo form (ABACA) and only a few transitions between sections hint at the Sturm und Drang for which Beethoven is so famous. If one is looking for memorable and hummable music, one need look no further.

  The final work on the program was Beethoven’s immensely popular Symphony No. 7 in A Major (1812). It has the standard four movements and is famous for its rhythmic play and innovative orchestration. The second movement is haunting, with an almost funereal theme that grows in intensity and majesty. The other three movements are joyously exuberant and are prone to induce toe tapping.

  This performance captured the spirit of this glorious work in ways I have rarely heard. Tempi were a bit fast at times, but that only added to the excitement. The use of two natural trumpets added crispness and the tympanist used staccato mallets that were clear and precise. The smaller size of the orchestra did not diminish its sonic power in the symphony; even the string section sounded as if it was much larger than it was. The balance between sections was excellent. This outstanding performance will be long-remembered.

  In all, this was a powerful concert with the LFS living up to its excellent reputation, especially in the Beethoven symphony. Midori also proved that she deserves her place in the pantheon of great violinists. ■

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  About the author:

  William Ford is an avid classical music fan and a clinical psychologist based in Atlanta. His reviews and interviews can most frequently be found online at Bachtrack and http://www.atlantamusiccritic.com

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