Jennifer Higdon's "blue cathedral" is a glistening sorbet of orchestral music and the perfect curtain raiser for Beethoven's epic Ninth.
Philadelphia composer Jennifer Higdon is having a very good year. Her first opera, "Cold Mountain", based on the Charles Frazier novel, premiered to positive reviews and good box office returns in Santa Fe this summer. It will next be presented by the Philadelphia Opera in February -- a nice coup for the Brooklyn-born Higdon, who is presently on the faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music.
So it was smart programming by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra to use an early Higdon piece as a curtain-raiser to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony this past weekend.
Her glistening sorbet of orchestral music, "blue cathedral," at times it sounds like an audition piece for a Hollywood film score; at other times, like something you might hear on in the background at a new-age bookstore. It opens with bells, then light strings enter underneath an ascending flute melody. This eventually leads to a lovely mini-solo for the concertmaster, played with grace on Sunday afternoon by Brennan Sweet.
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Soon dissonance creeps in as the music builds to an early climax. Next comes a quick, staccato solo section for the brass -- which sadly the NJSO horn players didn't exactly nail. Some sensitive cello playing restored the piece to good footing, and the ending -- the piece concludes with many of the different musicians shaking Chinese health reflex bells -- provided an odd but incandescent sonic effect.
All of this set the stage nicely for Beethoven's epic, final symphony. Though NJSO's Music Director, Jacques Lacombe, was too muted in his approach to the Allegro, the start of the second movement sounded much better: the phrasing was more nimble, the tempo brisker, and the dynamics between sections sounded both brighter and clearer.
The third movement, the slow, tender Adagio, opened with fine playing by the woodwinds and violins -- under Lacombe's baton it was appropriately sentimental. Then came time for the famous finale. The timpani-heavy clamor that opens the fourth movement didn't quite crackle, but the cellos, excellent in the Higdon piece, introduced the famous "Ode to Joy" theme with simple grace. Baritone Stephen Powell was the most impressive of the vocal soloists; he displayed lungs for days and articulated Schiller's poetry elegantly. (Tenor Jonathan Boyd struggled to be heard above the orchestra, but emerged with a clear sound when he did.)
By this point in the program, though it was clear that the main event at the NJPAC's Prudential Hall was the Westminster Symphonic Choir. The 160-strong group shined on Sunday afternoon, singing with expert precision, and -- more importantly -- full passion. The Rider University-based group has been accompanying major orchestras for decades; but in this concert, after they began singing, it seemed the NJSO was accompanying them.
Lacombe led everyone to a rousing finish -- bringing in the piece at a brisk 62 minutes. It's worth noting that the outgoing Music Director led the NJSO and the Westminster gang in Beethoven's Ninth five years ago, in his opening concerts as music director. This weekend's program, then, served almost as brackets to his tenure, or at least an unofficial beginning to his long goodbye. (Five more concert series are scheduled before his farewell in June.)
Who will lead the orchestra through Beethoven's Ninth next, of course, is still unknown -- but the bar has clearly been set very high.
New Jersey Symphony Orchestra
Beethoven's Ninth
New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark
Nov. 5 - 8.
James C. Taylor can be reached at writejamesctaylor@gmail.com. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook.
