It was an inspired thought to open the Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s 2015-16 Masterworks Series at the Bushnell with the “Shaker Loops” by American composer John Adams. The music, arranged by the composer for a seven-part string orchestra in 1983, is tricky to play and required special concentration from performers and audience alike, but it became a vibrant opening on Thursday, Oct. 1, for the concert and the new season.
Carolyn Kuan, conductor and music director of the Hartford Symphony, is experienced with this musical style and brought clarity to the work. The fast music unfolded with a sense of the elegant long arcs that shape longer harmonic motion, and the slow music maintained the kinetic intensity of the fast music, even when it was internalized.
As the third movement of this work neared its close, we were given a visual treat, as digital artist Christopher Gerson created a series of water and light images that gave a new perspective on the closing of the Adams work. It is a bold and challenging task to create visual sympathy with symphonic music, and Gerson found the right balance.
Violinist Caroline Goulding joined the orchestra as soloist in the Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor by Max Bruch to close the first half of the program. Although in her early 20s, Goulding is a seasoned performer with an impressive resume. Her approach to the Bruch concerto was blazing in many moments, especially in the finale. But the real centerpiece was the gorgeous sound and lovely quiet nuance in the adagio. It is not hard to see why Goulding is in demand as a soloist. The sheer intensity of sound that she produced was thrilling, and the pitch clarity of her double stops was remarkable. But there were also several moments, most especially in the first movement, when she pushed spontaneity to the point where the rhythm became impulsive, and the orchestra had significant trouble anticipating her landing points.
This concerto has one of the all-time great orchestral tutti passages in the first movement, and the HSO sounded fierce and resonant. Throughout the concerto the orchestral sound was impressive. The color of the timpani and winds at the opening sounded fresh, and this was especially noticeable because of the programming: the Adams work featured strings only and was a smaller, more divided sound.
After intermission we heard the Dvo¿ák Symphony No. 9 in E minor, the symphony nicknamed “From the New World.” Dvo¿ák came to the United States in 1893, at the age of 51, to begin a new life. He was influenced by American folk music, and sought out and assimilated as much as he could in the three years that he was here. He attempted to integrate into his own music the diversity of sounds that he heard, and he asked Americans in words and, by his own example, to embrace the eccentricities of our culture and to write music that was saturated in them.
The performance got off to a rough start, and the omission of the repeat made the entire first movement seem unnecessarily rushed. But the second movement was gorgeous ten-times-over. The English horn was lyrical and delicate, and orchestral details made the textures whisper and glow at all the right times. The third and fourth movements were also given impressive leadership by Kuan, who chose an interesting balance of rhythmic frictions in the scherzo, and helped shape the finale into its stunning mixture of simultaneously thrilling and heartbreaking emotion.
This was a creative and powerful musical start to the new season for the HSO.
HARTFORD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA “New World Visions” performances in the Masterworks Series in the Belding Theater of the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford, continue at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2, and Saturday, Oct. 3, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4. For tickets: hartfordsymphony.org/tickets, 860-987-5900.
