Distant Light, Distant View

The gallery was open at Friday morning's Cincinnati Symphony concert at Music Hall.
   Not just the top level of seats, but musically as well, in the program selected by French guest conductor Stephane Deneve.
   The first half of the concert comprised pictures in music by Deneve's compatriots Claude Debussy and Guillaume Connesson.
   "Iberia" from Debussy's "Images," presents aspects of Spain. For Connesson, whose music recalls Debussy, inspiration came from the edge of the Universe. His 2005 "Une lueur dans l'age sombre" ("A Glimmer in the Age of Darkness") was prompted by a photograph of the most distant light ever detected. It was the CSO premiere of the 20-minute work.
   Guest artist was pianist Nicholas Angelich, who illuminated the second half with "absolute music" (music with no extra-musical references) Brahms' Piano concerto No. 2
   Deneve, 34, whose round face, glasses and penumbra of curly hair give him the look of a young James Levine, spoke to the audience before performing the Connesson. The photograph, of light 13 billion years old, was from an article in a French science magazine, he said, holding it up for the audience to see (or not, he added, since "It is hard to see in this huge hall").
   Scored for huge orchestra, it began a bit like Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra" ("2001") with a soft rumble in the double basses. Quiet rustling in the strings, a cluster of winds and a chorale-like theme for brass followed. The violas announced a soothing second theme based on an Indian "morning" raga. Numerous percussive effects kept four players busy as the music rose to a big, metal-edged climax. There was a peaceful plateau where the themes interacted, featuring lush strings and fine solo work by associate principal hornist Tom Sherwood after which the light faded back into the basses from whence it had come.
   Debussy's "Iberia" took off with the ring of castanets and tambourine. The lively outer movements, "Par les rues et par les chemins" and "Le Matin d'un jour de fete," sparkled with melody. The strings became a great big guitar in the latter, where they strummed their instruments on their laps. The soft, central "Les Parfums de la nuit" was scented with English horn, low flutes and more of Sherwood's sensitive playing.
   It was principal hornist John Zirbel's turn in the Brahms Concerto, which he opened with a big, burnished statement of the main theme. (Leader of the CSO horns since last fall, Zirbel returns to the Montreal Symphony at the end of this season.) It made splendid preparation for Angelich, who performed the concerto in grand style. It's a big canvas, symphonic in scope, with four movements. Angelich, 35 (son of CSO violinist Borivoye Angelich), addressed the character of each movement, noble in the first, turbulent in the second, soulful in the third, where principal cellist Eric Kim's solos tugged at the heart. The almost jarring levity of the finale did not turn trite in his hands, and he brought the work to an ebullient close. Prompted by a lengthy ovation, he performed a touching encore, Brahms' gentle Intermezzo, Op. 117.
   Judging from Friday morning's small, scattered audience, it is high time for the CSO to consider closing off parts of Music Hall. I counted only 31 people in the box, balcony and gallery on the right side of the 3,500-seat hall. Five were in the gallery. One had binoculars.

(first published in The Cincinnati Post April 1, 2006)