David Bowie and Star Wars: the Virginia Symphony Orchestra gets around

June 7, 2016

The Virginia Symphony Orchestra performs two very different pops concerts this weekend that each pose a riddle about keeping the beat. (And, “Star Wars” fiends, read to the end of this column to learn about clues to some essential enigmas.)

First comes a night of David Bowie music. And the question there, for a music geek like me, is: How does the orchestra carry the beat of a rocker who pulled a lot of soul and funk into his music. You can’t get Bowie right if the rhythm section doesn’t pop and grind. (We’ll set aside the matter of the lead singer doing justice to Bowie, one of rock’s greatest frontmen.)

Ben Rous, resident conductor of the symphony, described the job of merging a rock band, with drum kit and electric bass, and a full symphony of about 80 musicians with its own bass and rhythm sections.

Rous said the rock band sets the beat, and he acts as a go-between, conveying it to the orchestra. He compared it to times when the symphony works with a guest soloist on a concerto. “The symphony players can do anything. You would be stunned at how much the first time through sounds like a finished product.”

That’s important, because the two groups will practice together only on the day of the concert. Don’t be alarmed by that small window of joint preparation, Rous said. “It’s been in preparation as long as all of these musicians have been practicing their instruments and their craft, which is many years.”

For Sunday’s “Star Wars” concert, the program is more in the tradition of orchestral music, but there is a twist: working with the Virginia Symphony Chorus and three high school choruses.

“The human voice has its own particular qualities as an instrument. It has this kind of natural rightness such that it’s only really one tempo that will fit with voices.”

Rous and the singers will establish that tempo, and the orchestra will fit that, and then – using their mastery at maintaining tempo – lock the voices in.

The “Star Wars” music by John Williams will cover the entire series, and will delve into mysteries like who is Rey and what happened to Luke, Rous said.

“I think that John Williams answered both of those questions in his scores. The scores tell us a lot about the plot, if you know how to listen.”