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Your
bass-ic virtuoso
Saturday,
April 8, 2006
By A. Michael Noll
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; Jeffrey Kahane (music director), Edgar Meyer(double bass). Copland: Appalachian Spring; Stravinsky: Pulcinella Suite; Meyer: Double Bass Concerto No.2 (2006 version). Alex Theatre, Glendale, CA.
Los Angeles Chmber Orchestra conductor Jeffrey Kahane conducted the original version of Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring from the piano. Copland composed it as the music for a ballet by Martha Graham; both are masterpieces. The original ballet music, heard here, was written for a small group of 13 musicians and was later turned into a suite for large orchestra. This performance was a suite from the original with only a few minutes of music missing from the complete score. The performance, from its gentle opening to its mystical ending, was tender with precise and flawless warm playing from the musicians.
Stravinsky's Pulcinella is a collection of short pieces based on music by a variety of baroque composers and was intended for a ballet by Sergei Diaghilev. Although all the pieces were once thought to be written by Pergolesi (certainly Stravinsky thought so), we now know that such other composers as Domenico Gallo, and Carlo Ignazio Monza were also responsible. Stravinsky orchestrated from the original sources and unified them in a neoclassical style. Who but Stravinsky would delightfully and playfully pair a double bass with a trombone in one of the movements! Kahane and LACO snappily performed the work.
It is a revelation to hear some of the original works on which Pulcinella is based. An insightful recording, not only of the complete Pulcinella but also including some of the original works by Gallo and by Pergolesi, is availabe on the London label conducted by Christopher Hogwood with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. To my taste, hearing the originals reduces Stravinsky to just an orchestrator. Although certainly skillful in what he does, Stravinsky does not add to the melodic ingenuity of the original pieces, many of which are true gems worthy of being performed and heard in their original form. So what Stravinsky has done is to rescue some otherwise unknown baroque pieces from obscurity - so please do try to hear them in their original form too.
Edgar Meyer is truly one of the greatest double bass players of all time and has skillfully maneuvered across both classical and popular genres. This was the West Coast premier of Meyer's Double Bass Concerto No.2 (2006 version). Meyer appeared on stage with his shirtsleeves rolled up, wearing red suspenders, a sight familiar to his many fans. Meyer was accompanied in his concerto by percussionist Sam Barco (of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra), who constructed a strange instrument from PVC plastic sewer pipe especially for this concerto. Apparently, Mayer wanted a softer percussion sound that would not over-power his double bass, although I would guess that other orchestras would substitute a wood block percussion instrument.
Meyer soared through the piece coaxing upper notes that I would expect from a violin. I almost expected Meyer to pick up the double bass and play it under his chin, so wonderfully magnificent were the sounds he so clearly enjoyed creating. A delightful dialogue between Meyer, the strange percussion instrument, and flute occurred during the second movement. The concerto was a tour de force for Meyer who wrote it, played it, and zinged it! He was justly greeted with a standing ovation from an enthusiastic audience and responded with a solo encore: a jazzy piece played pizzicato on his double bass. I wished that the members of LACO had joined in so that it all would never end.
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One of my favorite recordings of the complete Pulcinella is by Claudio Abbado conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. Copland himself warmly conducts one of my favorite recordings of the original ballet version of his Appalachian Spring; my other favorite recording is by Dennis Russell Davies conducting the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. There is a wonderful recording of Meyer's Violin Concerto with violinist Hillary Hahn and Hugh Wolff conducting the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.