PORTUGUESE
ELOQUENCE WITH SHOSTAKOVICH
Carneiro Coming into her Own
By D. Rane Danubian
artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area music
and dance
Week of Jan. 29-Feb. 5, 2012
Vol. 14, No. 43
BERKELEY---In
her two and
a half years on the podium here at the Berkeley Symphony podium, Joana
Carneiro
had established her competence in a broad repertory. But with the
Shostakovich
Symphony No. 5, she established her eloquence resoundingly, evoking
some
jubilation from both players and audience.
The
Fifth
is a 20th-century counterpart to Beethoven’s Fifth---a
dramatic
piece laced with emphatic tragedy early on. It’s an ingenious work, by
a Soviet
composer under a strict dictatorship conveying veiled and ambiguous
messages---of
protest most likely---while seemingly to toe the party line on a
superficial
level.
Already
publicly censured when turning out this epic work in 1937, the composer
was
clearly flirting with and skirting the gulags that stood with open
doors to
beckon him. He takes us masterfully on an emotional roller-coaster. He
even
concludes the work with a Grand Guignol of a derisive military march
before turning
to a triumphal brassy ending that Beethoven would surely have liked, or
at
least recognized.
Carneiro
brought out the thunder of the piece, but her forte is the poetics,
particularly in the Largo
(slow movement), with a unique serenity and lyricism. It was
awe-inspiring.
She
stretched
the piece out majestically (53 min., vs. a textbook length of 44 min.)
without dragging anywhere,
The
same
spacious, poetic approach shaped Debussy’s “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun” mellifluously, a work based on Greek
mythology which is sometimes citred as having ushered in the harmonic
innovations
of the 20th century. Tod Brody carried out the long opening
flute
solo with attractive vibrato.
Overall,
the orchestra played extremely well when heard at Zellerbach Hall on
Jan, 26. Carneiro
appeared to bring something extra out of every one and finally lived up
to the
very high initial expectations of her (particularly in light of the
high-caliber maestros that were passed over then).
The
modern
work was an extended testimonial piece by the inventive and seemingly
indefatigable French composer Henri
Dutilleux, who just turned 95. The 24-minute “The Shadows of Time” is a
memorial to mankind, impelled specifically by the Nazis' gassing of
innocent children in the death camps. Dutilleux deals in unsettled
tonalities---never too dissonant, never too comfortable. He sets off
with anguished outcries of high trumpets, morosely descending figures
repeated, and a very exposed segment that shows off the BSO contrabass
section to great advantage. Central to the piece are a wan set of
children's voices in French: "Why us? Why the star (of David)?" The
latter part is appropriately subdued, laced with tragedy, and
progressing to enigmatic wanderings of musical ideas, as if stunned by
the horrific events.
The
performance was aptly heartfelt, with special plaudits going to the
quartet from the Pacific Boychoir, whose director would certainly have
deserved at least one line in the generously fat program.<>
Berkeley Symphony. Next:
April 26, Bartok et al. For info: (510) 841-2800, or go online.
©D. Rane Danubian 2012
#
D. Rane Danubian has been
covering
the dance and modern-music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area with
relish
-- and a certain amount of salsa -- for years.
These critiques appearing weekly (or sometimes semi-weekly, but never
weakly)
will focus on dance and new musical creativity in performance, with
forays
into books (by authors of the region), theater and recordings by local
artists as well.
#
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