If you sat back, closed your eyes, and indulged your imagination for just a bit, it was entirely possible that the evening’s music could conjure up a vision of the blue hazy mountains of the Appalachians complete with dramatic rushing streams and quiet country roads. Such was the effect of the weekend’s Knoxville Symphony Orchestra concerts that opened with—and compared—two works: Aaron Copland’s now classic Appalachian Spring Suite and the Tennessee premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain Suite based on music from her 2015 opera.
The presence of Higdon’s suite on the program was something of an occasion for Maestro Aram Demirjian and the orchestra—KSO was one of 37 organizations that had co-commissioned the work, with Delaware Symphony performing the world premiere last September. Given the fact that Higdon grew up in the area and attended Heritage High School just outside Maryville, it seemed natural that she was in attendance for the concerts to provide insight on the work, and to greet local friends, acquaintances, and colleagues. Something of a contemporary legend for winning the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her Violin Concerto, she has also been the winner of three Grammy Awards in her career.
Cold Mountain Suite opens in a dramatic fashion—and similarly closes—with an intensity that immediately pulls the listener in, demanding attention with its barrage of thick musical textures that toy with dissonance. Relenting in its tension and density, a central section embraces the lyrical poetry of the work and provides a host of textural opportunities in solo instrumental passages. In addition to lavish amounts of percussion effects, the trombone (Samuel Chen) had well-played, ear-catching, expressive moments, as did the oboe (Claire Chenette) and violin (William Shaub). In fact, the charming dramatic details of the work were so numerous, one immediately wished for a second hearing.
Demirjian followed with Copland’s Appalachian Spring Suite, a work that was based on the composer’s 1944 ballet score for choreographer Martha Graham. Although this performance used the full orchestra score, Demirjian was careful in maintaining the notable lyrical simplicity and rustic nature that skillfully obscures Copland’s underlying structure of amazingly complex harmonies. At the same time, melodic passages from the clarinet, oboe, and flute punctuate the shimmering warmth from the strings. Of course, the nostalgic melodies Copland gives the flute (KSO principal Devan Jaquez) and the working of the “Simple Gifts” theme are reasons that one returns to the piece—at least in one’s sonic memory—over and over.
Arguably, in a very important way, Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony, which closed out the evening, is to Scandinavia what the Copland suite is to American music. The work has an apparent simplicity of message that hides a complexity—one that is indicative of both darkness and light, of both lyricism and northern European atmosphere.
Demirjian and the orchestra offered up a performance that was every bit the satisfying expansive journey, complete with brief side trips along the way, through music of deep forest and sunlit clearings, making way for the occasional vistas that majestically appear through the trees. On this journey, the listener was treated to the orchestra’s colorful rhythmic interpretations, some that waltz with determination, or some that draw the listener into a state of apprehension, like the notable frenetic flurry of strings that provide a base for the anxious solo bassoon (Justin Cummings). Notable, too, was the horn section (principal Jeffery Whaley) and their dramatic telling of the impactful main theme. Somehow, Sibelius always seems to surprise the listener, even if one knows what is around every corner.
Demirjian managed the layers of theme on theme with skill, allowing the expectations to grow. Of course, knowing how the finale ends with the six conductor-spaced chords merely adds to the tension and apprehension. In this case, though, patience for the important, inevitable end was rewarded—the sequence was delightfully crisp, and happily, no one was overcome in either the orchestra or audience.
