BWW Reviews: World Premiere of Michael Daugherty's REFLECTIONS ON THE MISSISSIPPI

On March 24, 2013, at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, the Grammy-nominated Temple University Symphony Orchestra and conductors Paul Rardin and Luis Biava came together with Philadelphia Orchestra principal tubist Carol Jantsch and noted composer Michael Daugherty for a concert honoring Biava with the Boyer College (Boyer College of Music and Dance) Tribute Award and premiering Daugherty's newly commissioned "Reflections on the Mississippi" for tuba and orchestra.

After the welcome and tribute from Robert T. Stroker. Dean of the University's Center for the Arts, choral conductor Paul Rardin led the orchestra and the combined choirs in a performance of Samuel Barber's "Prayers of Kierkegaard" (Op. 36), with Pei-Ju (Peggy) Yu, soprano, as soloist. Yu, who has won a number of prizes in Taiwan and has studied at the Russian Opera Workshop as well, was a welcome presence, with a clear, bell-like soprano that harmonized magnificently with the violin line alongside her during "Lord Jesus Christ, Who suffered all life long". As Rardin noted after the concert, the Barber is little-performed, and that is tragic, although a strong choir such as Temple's is required to accomplish the feat; this is no piece for weak singers, or for that matter, for a weak orchestra, as the ending of the fourth and final section introduces dramatic lines for the horns as well as an interweaving of near-gregorian vocal tones and melody with the magnificent matching melodies of the strings.

The final piece, after the intermission, was Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 9 in E-flat Major (Op. 70), conducted by Biava during Stalin's post-WWII regime, a piece noted upon its first performances as being Mozart-like - the comparison cannot be avoided, especially in the first movement - but which was banned then in Russia until two years after Stalin's death, too "satirical" and too cheerful to be an acceptable work from the man who had penned the patriotic "Leningrad" Symphony for his country's musicians. The piece, under Biava's baton, evoked many things - the optimism of a post-war period, the contemplation of a country still picking up the pieces, the frustration of overworked, over-tired soldiers still being put through their paces, and an ever-shifting palette of other, less certain emotions.

However, the centerpiece of the concert was the world premiere of Daugherty's "Reflections on the Mississippi," conducted by Biava and with the solo tuba of Carol Jantsch of the Philadelphia Orchestra, who workshopped it extensively with Daugherty prior to its first public performance. In four movements named for things and moods associated with the river rather than for performance tempos, "Reflections" is an appealing, intensely melodic work.

The first movement, "Mist," begins with the ripple of chimes and then the tuba introducing the melody before the introduction of the strings. The orchestra's bell-like percussion indeed felt like so many raindrops against a moving melody line propelled by violin and by Jantsch's solo that brought in a few Dixieland notes prior to its reaching into bass registers that carried off the listeners.

In "Fury," the second section, tuba and drums bring the orchestra into an almost martial, driving melodic line, entering into a call and response with the orchestra before moving off, either like the march of Civil War soldiers or the rushing of the river itself, prepared to rise over its banks. It is a movement full of clash, of dissonance, and of strong, driving beats, intensely compelling and intensely modern in sound while feeling strangely familiar in theme; although dangerous, it is highly accessible to the listener.

"Prayer," the third movement, opens with chimes and percussion giving way to woodwinds in a gentle, not-quite-melancholic theme as the tuba then enters along with chimes, finally moving into a tuba solo of folk-tune-redolent melody, almost like a spiritual. A few moments of jazz inspiration, evoking thoughts of New Orleans jazz music church services and funerals, waft through the section as the tuba brings the themes together.

"Steamboat" concludes the Daugherty with the same feelings one might expect to find in Twain's writings of the river, or of Ferber's - and then Hammerstein's -- "Show Boat". Without harking directly either to that musical's tunes or to any immediately identifiable jazz riffs, the final movement, both in the orchestra and in the solo, provides a cheerful, upbeat theme punctuated by a notable timpani presence, then moving into a slower, melodic second theme with drama and a dirge-like motif before returning to the decidedly lively jazz theme.

Jantsch's solo was, as anticipated by the audience, extraordinary - but for Jantsch, extraordinary performances are ordinary. The orchestra as a whole performed notably, showing its Grammy-nominated form under Biava's conducting and rising to the occasion admirably, all to vociferous audience approval and an enthusiastic reception of Daugherty's new work.

"Reflections" is undoubtedly worth a recording sooner rather than later, and one would hope that Jantsch would be selected as the soloist, given that her known talent and her involvement in the development of the piece make her the obvious choice for it. This is an absolutely delightful contribution to new orchestral music, which one hopes will be recognized for its importance in general as well as for its specific interest in adding to the repertoire for tuba.

Photo credit: Jessica Griffin

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