Excitement is in the air this Saturday October 12, 2019 at Red Bank, NJ’s Count Basie Center for the Arts for an Opening Weekend concert by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, currently celebrating its 97th season.
President and CEO of the NJSO, Gabriel Van Aalst, welcomes the audience to tonight’s performance which will consist of three unique pieces: Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance, the New Jersey premiere of Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Hiraeth, and Gustav Holst’s The Planets complete with HD film.
Musicians busily take their places, and concertmaster Eric Wyrick tunes the orchestra before NJSO conductor Xian Zhang takes to the podium. The orchestra stands as she gracefully bows to the NJSO musicians and to the audience.
With a wave of her baton, Zhang and the NJSO launch into Edward Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance.
Marching with rhythmic precision, the staccato brass and syncopated percussion lead the way into the famous Pomp and Circumstance theme which brings a lump to the throat of many listeners as they are reminded of graduations of yesteryear.
The regal sounds continue to march along, the swirling strings and whirling woodwinds accompanied by pounding percussion and brilliant brass.
Zhang’s dynamic conducting is a treat for the eyes as well as the ears.
Her baton dances and sweeps, illustrating the instruments as they are featured and bringing a frenzy of cheers from this audience of classical music lovers for this enduring piece.
For their efforts, Zhang and the members of the NJSO enjoy a well-deserved bow.
Zhang leaves the stage, but soon returns to introduce the audience to the composer of tonight’s next piece, Hiraeth — New Jersey’s own Sarah Kirkland Snider.
Zhang and Snider converse about the creation of Hiraeth.
Snider explains that, at the invitation of the North Carolina Symphony, she wrote the composition about five years ago based on her childhood memories of Salisbury, NC, where her father was raised. Unfortunately however, according to Snider, her father passed away before she completed the work.
For those who are unfamiliar with the term, “Hiraeth” is a Welsh word which refers to homesickness which is tinged with grief or sadness over those who are lost or departed. Snider herself has described her piece, Hiraeth, as an “exploration of the hazy, dreamlike textures and sensations that attend nostalgia and recollection” as well as “a meditation on the nature of memory itself.”
The NJSO’s performance of Hiraeth is accompanied by a short film directed by Mark DeChiazza. The movie features several of Snider’s family members recreating Snider’s father’s experiences — as well as some of her own — in North Carolina.
The music commences as hazy images of a young girl preparing to set a frog free from a mason jar appear on the screen.
The music is mysterious and dramatic as the woodwinds accent the strings’ melody. As the piece changes, so do the on-screen pictures as other family members are introduced to the visual with scenes of family and carefree rural summer life.
Images of moving rail cars compliment the percussive plucking and tapping of stringed instruments as the piece moves ever onward with percussive snare drum rolls.
The music evolves along with the film, the composition’s magical sounds enticing the listener to ponder the images and the music as it crescendos and decrescendos.
Images of a graveyard and angels are accompanied by the full sound of the orchestra which swells and builds.
An orchestral keyboard percussion instrument known as a celesta plunks out a tune as a sudden emphasis — or sforzando — of the strings accompanies another mood change.
Images of yesteryear — a lady’s hand with a wineglass, a whitewall tire of a ’60s Cadillac — accompany a variety of contemporay sounds: a French horn calling, a glockenspiel tinkling.
The music evokes a feeling of a time gone by — the freedom of youth and all those experiences that go with it — as a lone violin sustains a tone throughout an orchestral section.
The music is triumphant — fleeting, yet lasting.
Although the moment of the note is gone, the feeling it evokes continues, highlighting an experience that nothing else can match or duplicate.
Zhang gracefully and eloquently draws out that feeling from the musicians in her care, making the performance a one-of-a-kind experience — until it fades away and there is nothing left but silence floating over the audience.
It is within that silence that the audience joins the experience through their applause.
Sarah Kirkland Snider returns to give Zhang a kiss, and they take a bow with filmmaker Mark DeChiazza to avid “Bravos!” from the audience.
During intermission, we take a moment to chat with several audience members who share their impressions of tonight’s performance thus far.
Declares Susan from Farmingdale, “I loved the Elgard! It brought back images of when my daughter graduated from college with her doctorate — I could see her walking down the aisle in her doctoral regalia. It was just wonderful!”
Susan’s husband, Abe, comments on Snider’s Hiraeth acknowledging, “There was always a sense of anticipation,” to which Susan adds, “I liked the nuance of the piece.”
Helen from Long Branch remarks, “Pomp and Circumstance brought back memories of so many graduations I’ve attended. It felt nice to usher in the new NJSO season with this classic piece.”
Adding, “I thought Hiraeth was very evocative,” Helen explains, “I liked it very much. I grew up in rural New York State, so the composition brought back thoughts of my own childhood with similar experiences. I really empathized with Sarah Kirkland Snider, so it was interesting to place myself in a parallel universe. Her music really captured that whole childhood experience so well.”
The lights dim and Zhang and the members of the NJSO return for Act II of tonight’s presentation — Gustav Holst’s The Planets featuring a high-definition film. Produced by Duncan Copp, The Planets: An HD Odyssey couples actual recent images from planetary spacecraft with Holst’s music to provide an otherworldly spectacle of sight and sound.
Opening with “Mars, The Bringer of War,” the red planet rises over the heads of the orchestra as the muted brass calls and the strings bounce their bows on their strings.
The camera zooms over the arid Mars landscape, depicting images of craters in shades of orange, brown, and black.
As the film illustrates designs of color, shape, texture, and dimension on Mars, the music is dramatic and sweeping. Dynamics play a vital role in the presentation as the orchestra casts its spell over the audience under Zhang’s baton, inspiring audience members to applaud even though it’s only the end of The Planets’ first movement.
French horns call an introduction to “Venus, The Bringer of Peace,” as the milky white and tan orb known as Venus floats in space under a brilliant orange sun.
The music is light and fluid as harps and woodwinds play gentle tones layered with a brassy melody. The beauty of the music is only matched by the beauty of the images as violins solo over woodwinds and cellos add a delicate voice. The experience fills the senses as gentle chime-like sounds accompany the stars which emerge as Venus fades.
Again, the audience responds with avid applause before bells ring out, woodwinds skip along, and strings amble on “Mercury, The Winged Messenger.”
The music is in perfect sync with the images filling the screen as compelling musical phrases introduce a striking visual depiction of a bright orange planet.
The brass instruments call and the strings answer with a happy-go-lucky song on “Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity.” Accompanied by woodwinds as images of Jupiter dance across the screen, the percussion section adds its own rhythm to the dance.
At times, the sound is flowing and melodious as Jupiter and her moons fill the screen. Delicate runs and whistling tunes build and decrescendo before trumpets echo over the audience and crescendo into an apropos ending.
As the title, “Saturn, The Bringer of Old Age,” appears on the screen, many in the audience start to giggle. Beginning like a ticking clock, the crowd sees the edge of one of the rings of Saturn spinning before their eyes as the drone of a two-note undercurrent accompanies the pianissimo plucking of the low strings.
The images of Saturn are fantastic, and they sweep across the screen showing time and space in amazing clarity and detail as the orchestral score plays like a soundtrack to a sci-fi movie. In this piece, the meeting of these two art forms — music and film — creates amazement in its purest form, prompting audience members to commence clapping yet again.
Bouncy, lilting runs on xylophone and wind instruments echo forth as the brass and strings hold long notes on “Uranus, The Magician.”
Zhang commands the stage as she conducts the gifted NJSO musicians through the mastery of Holst, creating a performance that intrigues and captures the imagination and soul of its listeners via the majesty of its music.
The piece’s final movement, “Neptune, The Mystic,” opens with wind instruments playing a mysterious and bright tune of hope.
The violins add their sustained tremolo — gentle and suspenseful — as other orchestral members add their voices while blue images of Neptune float across the screen.
Zhang raises a finger and a faint sound floats down from the beyond, bringing chills to music lovers in the crowd.
The audience stirs as they realize the sound is actually real human voices — 42 female singers from a group entitled Newark Voices, under the direction of Heather J. Buchanan — which emanate from the auditorium’s balcony.
The sound — filled with harmony and dissonance — floats over and combines with the tones of the orchestra in ethereal delight.
The sound slowly fades away as the piece ends to thunderous applause from the audience, standing on their feet.
Zhang waves to the choir in the balcony and then bows to the audience before announcing that the orchestra and choir will perform an encore of “Greensleeves.” Basses pluck and cellos strum as violins and violas bow, playing the well-known “Greensleeves” melody.
The music switches to a lilting tune, before building in dynamics and texture. A flute solo commences as a harp brings in the choir.
Adding warm voices to the famous, “Greensleeves was my delight/Greensleeves my heart of gold” melody, Zhang lets the choir shine as the orchestra softly accompanies them.
At the conclusion, the audience rises again and Zhang and the NJSO bow three times before the standing crowd.
As concertgoers make their way out of the auditorium, we get an opportunity to chat with one of the members of the Newark Voices choir — Mackenzie, 18, from Princeton.
Reveals Mackenzie, a high school senior, “I was a little nervous before tonight’s show, but I have a deep passion for singing, and I’ve always loved choir.”
Continuing, “I just love this music,” Mackenzie explains, “It has such a mystical feeling to it, which is why I wanted to be a part of it,” before concluding, “The key to a performance like this involves how the choir is able to allow the sound to wash over the audience — I think that part is really cool!”
We also chat with several music lovers in the audience who share their impressions of tonight’s performance with us.
Comments Michael from Milltown, “This concert was fantastic! The pictures were fascinating, the orchestra played very well, and the audience was very receptive,” before adding, “I was particularly impressed with the choir — they provided such a great emotional effect. When they started singing, I was so surprised!”
Alan from Milltown agrees adding, “The orchestra and choir sounded great together,” noting, “the acoustics are very good in here.”
Janet from White Township declares, “I really enjoyed The Planets! I’d heard it before, but I’d never experienced it with a visual component. It was really fantastic — so realistic!” adding, “As a scientist myself, I can appreciate that, especially since they used very current video and photos.”
Whereas Barbara from St. Louis asserts, “The orchestra was amazing, and the entire program was fascinating,” her granddaughter, Natalie from Princeton, remarks, “Whenever a new picture popped up along with the orchestra, it was just perfect,” before noting, “and I really liked the choir, too.”
Lastly, we chat with Chrissy from South Plainfield who declares, “I really loved this performance! It was such a treat to see the movie — it was fabulous — and I can’t believe how beautiful the planets are!”
Continuing, “The addition of the choir was a lovely surprise, and the ‘Greensleeves’ encore was very moving,” Chrissy smiles before concluding, “I’d love to see it all over again!”
To learn more about the NJSO’s 2019–2020 Season please click on njsymphony.org. For information on future NJSO performances at Red Bank’s Count Basie Center for the Arts — including Grieg’s Piano Concerto on November 2 and Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet on January 4, 2020 — please click on thebasie.org.
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