Page 38 - Southern Exposure - February '25

Page 38, Southern Exposure

thEAtrE hAPPEninGs

Rex Recommends

Palm Beach Symphony

Glorious Tchaikovsky, Ravishing Ravel

Review by Rex Hearn

In their third concert The last movement echoes the start of the first, this perfection. I was given to thinking about what Sir John
of the season on Jan. 13, time with a drum roll. And it’s off we go into a series of Barbirolli said of the Halle Orchestra he had to rebuild
Palm Beach Symphony restless figures interrupted by cheeky contributions from after World War II took so many male players. He praised
once again proved that they soloists in the orchestra, including a solo tuba! This happy each new player saying that they could stand alone as
now rank with America’s concerto, full of youthful exuberance met with appreciative soloists at the drop of a hat.
top orchestras. A packed applause. It was a memorable performance. So it was for this orchestra, the many solo parts that
Kravis Center heard Jennifer The great symphonies of the world’s composers test led to fine expositions were all superb.
Higdon’s “blue cathedral,” the mettle of every orchestra. I would have wished for a stronger clarinet sound though.
Ravel’s Piano Concerto in Last night, The Palm Beach Symphony’s performance Maestro Schwarz had each section take a well-deserved
G Major and Tchaikovsky’s of Tchaikovsky’s 6th, the Pathetique, reminded us how bow. Alas, we must still work on the new audiences whose
Sixth Symphony. Maestro great they can be. It was another refined performance halfhearted applause at the end let the players go far too
Gerard Schwarz has built from the baton of Maestro Schwarz verging on complete soon. More Bravos would be a good start. …
an orchestra worth hearing backed by countless enthusiasts
who raise money, led by hard working Chief Executive,
David McClymont. Contributions and grants as of May 31,
2023 totaled $2,859,057, and they continue to grow year on
year as does its audience through television “specials” and
many lively outreach programs. This combination of financial
success and creative improvement assures the orchestra of
50 more years. They are now in their 51st season. “Blue
cathedral” by American composer, Jennifer Higdon, born $ $ 100 OFF $ 250
1962, opened the program. It was written in response to 39Usually 95
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bells, hardly audible to the naked ear. It’s a lovely mysterious
piece, well-liked by the public with over 700 performances
so far. This idea of replacing a familiar “overture” with a
contemporary work at the beginning of a concert gives needed
exposure to composers like Ms. Higdon. After all, every
piece of music was once new. I first heard pianist Jean-Yves
Thibaudet at a Tanglewood concert in the Berkshire Hills of
Massachusetts where the Boston Symphony have had their
summer home for 88 years now. Back then the very young
pianist had a “quirk”: he wore bright red socks! If anything,
his “touch” has gotten more mature. When I first heard him, I
considered him a great pianist and something of a showman,
and, why not, he is exceptional and still in demand. Whereas
many of his contemporaries have moved over to academia or
the recording studio. Ravel wrote his G Major piano concerto
soon after completing his famous Concerto for the Left
Hand, commissioned by a pianist friend who was maimed in
World War I. Like the French Impressionist painters, Ravel
rejected the traditional forms, saying, “The old concertos
were written not for, but against the piano.” So he opens his
G Major concerto with the crack of a whip, a sound made by
smashing two long boards together in the percussion, after
which the pianist is integrated into the orchestra as one of
them; literally with a part to play alongside.
In the slow movement the pianist plays solo for a third
of the time, as if in a serious reverie. Thibaudet got the sad
mood across with drooped shoulders and restrained playing:
the “showman” again. Reverie music is picked up by the
orchestra, they and the soloist continue “in conversation”
to great effect; Thibaudet enjoying every moment at the
keyboard.