A BIG-BAND DETOUR IN ORCHESTRAL COMMISSION 
                                              By D. Rane Danubian
        artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area music and dance 
                                                                 Week of April 18-25, 2010
                                                                  Vol. 12, No. 93
            It was as if the big bands of mid-20th-century were back in force. Tex Beneke, Jimmy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Les Brown, you name it.
            Only now it was a world premiere at the Oakland East Bay Symphony, via Benedikt Brydern’s 17-minute “Double Identity.” There was a stage-band trap set, strummed double basses, strong brass down to the trombones, cymbals, and a Gershwinesque style, all drawing on Brydern’s experience as a studio composer in Los Angeles.
            Unfortunately the work missed its target, the “New Visions/New Vistas” commissioning project of the OEBS. That had been  created to bring the classical orchestra in contact with much broader influences to produce novel amalgams attracting broader audiences.
            But what came out was standard fare of the old-style “pops concerts,” which fewer orchestras seem to give any more. Think Henry Mancini. Think bluesy brass, and lively swing-band grooves. Brydern’s is a fun entertainment, but it moves the clock backward more than forward.
            Otherwise, the April 16 concert went well, to the extent that the Paramount Theatre acoustics permitted. There was arguably the most understated of all of Richard Strauss’ orchestral works, “Don Quixote.” Here the use of operatic supertitles would have been welcome to trace the 12 episodic segments of DQ’s adventures. Daniel Reiter played the solo cello with a sweet tone, and unerring high range (in the thumb positions), and a serious enough mien to depict the knight himself with that recurrent four-note motif. His cadenza was particularly evocative. Ruminative passages perhaps took DQ more seriously than he deserved. The strings did not project well; you really need more than 22 violinists on stage, playing in this immense ex-movie palace (of nearly 3,000 seats), far bigger than what Strauss himself had to contend with. Jim Hurley played the Sancho Panza part in his trusty viola.
            After intermission, Adam Neiman was the rock-solid soloist in the familiar Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1, snapping off those galloping octaves as if they were child’s play.
            Michael Morgan conducted, showing the same intuitive bent for the Brydern as he did in the romantic classics that followed---a rare kind of podium versatility.
            Oakland East Bay Symphony under Michael Morgan, with Brydern world premiere. Paramount Theatre, Oakland, April 16. For info on the OEBS: (510) 444-0801, or go online. 

        ©D. Rane Danubian 2010
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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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