ORCHESTRA REVIEW
Percussion piece skips the hubcaps to deliver complex, appealing sound
By Gregory Shepherd
Advertiser Music Critic
| • | Schwantner's 'Percussion Concerto'; Mahler's Symphony No. 4
Honolulu Symphony Orchestra 7:30 p.m. today Blaisdell Concert Hall $55 — $15 792-2000, 591-2211 |
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An immensely appealing piece, the half-hour concerto has its perfect interpreter in the person of Honolulu Symphony Orchestra principal percussionist James Lee Wyatt III. Wyatt's virtuosity on at least 13 different instruments or sets of instruments (or fast-food accessories) made for an exciting performance of the work at Sunday's concert at Blaisdell. Particularly impressive was the way he moved with lightning speed from delicate repeated motifs on the marimba to all-out assaults on a battery of tom-toms.
Schwantner's writing is masterful, with the fast, interlocking percussion lines supported by the full orchestra's slow, static blocks of sound. The composer repeats complex rhythmic figures just often enough for the pattern to make sense, and then he is off on something new and equally intriguing. The marimba writing, as well as that for a rack of pitched cowbells, calls to mind the sound of an Indonesian gamelan, and Wyatt's deft touch allowed the instruments to reverberate without too aggressive an initial attack. Guest conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson coordinated the activity of the full orchestra as it accompanied Wyatt, and the abrupt ending of the breakneck first movement could not have been more adroitly accomplished. The orchestra has a real wealth of terrific talent, and Wyatt is right up there with the best of them.
Mahler's Symphony No. 4 is the composer's most accessible and least angst-clotted major work, and Wilson's reading of it on Sunday was fresh and well thought out. The first movement especially showed admirable restraint in the opening section (with the exception of the frantic sleigh bells), and this restraint allowed the movement to build in momentum so that when the exultant main theme finally appears it does not sound anti-climactic. Guest soprano soloist Ying Huang's work on the final vocal section was a real delight. Her angelic voice is perfect for a text about children in heaven.
Gregory Shepherd has been The Advertiser's music critic since 1987.
