Review: BEN FOLDS AND THE NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA at Kennedy Center

As the first person to serve as Artistic Advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra, Ben Folds has had several opportunities over the past few years to perform with the organization.

Over the weekend, he took the opportunity to record a live album with them as well.

While he often showed a thumping rock side when he led his band the Ben Folds Five, he’s tends toward melodic, keening pop songs when working with the larger string backing. Or maybe he’s just maturing.

Folds, 58, padded on stage on the first of the two night recording sessions Friday, sports coat, hair tousled, looking like a boyish assistant professor. With an energetic Stephen Reineke conducting the orchestra, Folds began with a near-a cappella “But Wait, There’s More,” accompanied by five harmonizing voices.

It was the first of songs that spoke specifically to the still-unsettled political moment. “What used to be extreme’s now a bore,” he sings, ”That freak show in the landscaping parking lot  was oh-so-funny then. Now it’s not.” Because, he adds: “Look who’s coming back, coming back for more.” 

Eventually the song’s question was “Do you still believe in the good of humankind?” And the chorus’ answer, an emphatic “I do, I do, I do.” 

A similar hopefulness shined through the show, from hushed ballads with falsetto reaches, to songs that had to be repeated two or even three times for recording purposes.

That wasn’t such a problem when he had two do-overs with Folds’ biggest guest star of the night — duet partner Regina Spektor — as they reprised their wry 2008 duet “You Don’t Know Me.” 

The first was a sweet back-and-forth with the singer who regularly commands her own headlining tours (playing hereabouts last year at Wolf Trap). The second was more rocking with heavier drums and heavy audience participation in claps and chants.

The third — a surprise during the show’s second half — likely came to help balance sound pickup because of the noisy version. It was just as welcome (and was good use of Spektor, who wasn’t able to play the next night’s show).

There were other do-overs late in the show, requested by a sound man with a headphone microphone who amusingly rushed on stage with instructions on paper. So there were late show repeats of two songs about fizzled relationships, “Capable of Anything” and “Landed,” the latter using a Paul Buckminster string arrangement he left off the initial release. Also heard twice was his poignant song of parenthood, “Still Fighting It,” and that a cappella opener “But Wait, There’s More” (one of them cut short as it was starting by the frenzied sound man). (Perhaps “there’s more” referred to versions of the songs.).

But it was fine to hear all the repeats; the second ones were at once more relaxed and more emphatically vocalized to be better heard over the admittedly large orchestras.

The arrangements after a while seemed to echo the mid-60s work of Brian Wilson, with the prominent percussion as well as the surprising turns for strings and woodwinds; the keening voice of Folds and harmonies with the duo Tall Heights and three others. 

Folds own piano work was prominent on most of the selections, and blended well with the backing. 

Songs from his latest album, “What Matters Most” were most often heard in the show. Among its four songs was the engaging “Kristine from the 7th Grade” about uninvited emails from the past. Folds at first talked less than usual between songs, sticking to the assignment at hand, but he eventually loosened up. 

Friday also happened to be the release date for Folds’ new Christmas album “Sleigher,”  which played in the foyer before showtime alongside premature lit trees and specialty drinks. He chose one of the standouts from that set’s seven new original songs to be part of his performance, joined by a second duet partner, the actress-turned-musician Lindsey Kraft. Their duo on “We Could Have This” is a deft reflection of a couple vowing to get together by next year’s holiday, despite the obstacles (“Time and space, and lives arranged - some pain, some change, some time to wait”). 

The rare hopeful love song echoed one of his most popular, “The Luckiest,” which with he closed the show (before the handful of pickup repeats anyway).

It will all be available for everyone to hear sometime next year when the resulting live album is released.

Running time: About two and a half hours, including one intermission.

Photo credit: Photo by Ari Strauss. 

Ben Folds: Solo Album Live Recording with the National Symphony Orchestra was performed Friday and Saturday, Oct. 25 and 26, at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. 

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