Currie Mesmerizes CSO Audience

Percussionist Colin Currie

Covering the Music Hall stage with percussion and making a case for a neglected Dvořák symphony are what Friday night’s Cincinnati Symphony concert at Music Hall was about.

Percussionist/guest artist Colin Currie was the wielder of mallets, beaters and sticks in a mind-blowing performance of Scottish composer James MacMillan’s “Veni, Veni Emmanuel,” while guest conductor Christoph König made a highly successful CSO debut in Antonin Dvořák’s lesser known Symphony No. 5.

MacMillan’s percussion concerto is steeped in the composer’s religious faith (he began writing it on the first day of Advent, 1991, and completed it on Easter Day, 1992). It is an exploration of the plainchant “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” which recurs throughout in fragmentary form, coming together near the end in a kind of metaphor for the Advent of Jesus Christ. (It was not a CSO premiere, by the way, having been performed by percussionist Evelyn Glennie and the CSO in 1999.) To perform it requires 40 instruments, including 13 drums.

It was an awesome demonstration -- virtuosity unbounded as Currie moved from one side of the stage to the other to access his instruments, which included marimba, vibraphone, tam-tams, tom-toms, bongos, temple blocks, crotales and cow bells, among others. And he did so with the utmost precision, from the fanfare-like beginning (Introit) to the ethereal conclusion (Easter), where CSO members struck small metal bars suspended from their stands, as Currie intoned tubular bells softly from behind the orchestra.

The central portion of the work was extremely moving, with Currie on marimba and various instrumental combinations softly repeating the four chords, “Gaude, Gaude” (“Rejoice”), like voices in prayer. Currie was in perfect sync with CSO timpanist Patrick Schleker in the climactic Dance-Chorale portion, where, following the CSO’s complete statement of the chant refrain, he broke into an elaborate drum cadenza.

Czech composer Dvořák’s Fifth Symphony has languished among his repertoire in favor of his popular last symphonies (7-9). Its first and only prior CSO performance was in 1981. König, a highly articulate but no-nonsense conductor with a genial disposition, made it bloom in the CSO’s hands. The first movement radiated Bohemian charm, opening with a perky fanfare-like theme by the clarinets. The more somber Andante was followed by a delightfully playful scherzo movement and a dramatic finale, which grew sunny at the end, sealing the work with optimism. The CSO played its very best for König, with a lush, full-bodied string sound and bright, laser-like performances by the winds, making his debut one of the more notable of this (or any) CSO season.

The concert opened with Carl Maria von Weber’s Overture to “Der Freischütz,” which overcame a somewhat tentative beginning to morph into a full-blooded, romantic statement.

Repeat is 8 p.m. tonight (Feb. 1) at Music Hall. Come at 7 p.m. to hear an enlightening discussion of the program with König and Currie. Tickets begin at $12 at (513) 381-3300, or visit www.cincinnatisymphony.org.