INTERNATIONAL MUSIC MAELSTROM IN SUBURBAN MARYLAND 
                                              By D. Rane Danubian
        artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area music and dance 
                                                                 Week of Oct. 28-Nov. 4, 2009
                                                                  Vol. 12, No. 27
          NORTH BETHESDA, MD---Bring together a British percussionist, a South American orchestra, an American conductor, a concerto by a Scot, and stir thoroughly. Then serve. 
            Such was the spicy entree on the menu with the Sao Paolo (Brazil) Orchestra came to the Strathmore Concert Hall serving effectively the Washington DC suburbs. 
            The solo percussionist was the remarkable Evelyn Glennie, 44, from Scotland. The slender figure moves lithely about the stage with a keen sense of theater and attacks the instruments with improbably power, playing a dramatico-musical role. Any images you might have about her dancing about the bubbling cauldron in "Macbeth" are dispelled afterwards when she turns on the charm in signing encounters with fans. But on stage she is  a mystery woman, slinking about in a sometimes unsettling manner, as if choreographed by Charles Addams. 
            Performing, she maintains perfect coordination with the orchestra even though deaf, compensating by keeping a close eye on the baton as well as by going barefoot, feeling vibrations of the stage. She is a unique individual in music past or present, also  responsible for commissioning at least 160 works from leading composers on both sides of the Atlantic. 
            To carry off this tour de force concerto, she ranged through several sites scattered about the stage, patronizing  several oases of instruments in the Oct. 21 event. 
            Unfortunately, the James MacMillan Percussion Concerto on display is not the most memorable of works, leaving her pounding fortissimo on random instruments against the turbulent tattoo of a very loud, brass-driven orchestra.
            In various furious runs she addressed the giant tamtam (gong), vibraphone, wood blocks, and a variety of drums, through shifting rhythms in the score. Her rail-thin figure with loose-cascading hair floated about the stage in a long tight dress, producing the night’s highpoint in a dulcet four-stick solo on the marimba, where her musical prowess and her pillowy touch were fully displayed.       
            None of this sounds like the religious music for which composer MacMillan is noted. But eventually, there is a quote from the familiar Advent hymn "Veni, Veni, Emanuel," followed by Glennie proceeding in slow silence to a set of church-like bells, there to establish the theme as firmly as if in church. 
            Brahms' highly romantic Second Symphony gave a chance to assess both orchestra and conductor. The ensemble has a huge roster (36 violins! Six oboes! Eight horns!), though a substantially smaller group came on tour. The musicians play their varied repertoire skilfully, with a very solid string section. The oboes emulate a piquant sound now even abandoned by the Russians, one we rarely hear in America. 
            Conductor Kazem Abdullah, who takes on a lot of unfamiliar and contemporary music, showed a competent if not exciting approach to Brahms. The woodwinds were rather sharp-edged, and the brass often too loud.  He adheres to relentless progress in the music. But one wished he'd slow now and then to smell the roses. 
            As an American  black, Abdullah was in a compact minority here. The Brazilian orchestra showed only about three black musicians on stage, with only about one dozen women.
            Also on the program were selections from Camargo Guarnieri (1907-93), Brazil’s best-known symphonic composer outside of Villa-Lobos. The music is consonant and usually dance-like, sensuous even if not profound. His “Encantamento” (Enchantment) is a languid, low-key serenade dominated by winds. And his “Three Brazilian Dances” are just that, providing between segments suggesting samba and blues a stunning “Dança Salvagem,” a violent Afro-Brazilian bit of savagery that had me on the edge of my seat.
            As for the Strathmore Concert Hall, it’s an asset, with easy access for symphony concerts, both by public transport and personal auto. The downstairs listening proved to be the best. My spies allege it’s the best place to hear the Baltimore Symphony concerts.
            Strathmore concerts featuring touring attractions, as well as the Baltimore Symphony. For info: (301) 581-5100, or go online. 

        ©D. Rane Danubian 2009
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        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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