Virginia Symphony delights with program of Latin rhythms in Newport News concert
October 22, 2016
The Virginia Symphony Orchestra opened its Latin Rhythms concert Friday at the Ferguson Center for the Arts by plunging into an energetic performance of George Gershwin’s “Cuban Overture.”
The 1932 work, inspired by a brief visit to Havana, had all the composer’s infectious rhythms combined with bluesy melodies that included a lovely clarinet transition by Michael Byerly.
The big surprise hit of the evening was the astonishing finale: “La Noche de los Mayas (The Night of the Mayas),” a suite in four movements, originally written as a 1938 film score by Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas.
It’s not often that a symphony concert ends with the audience on its feet, whooping and hollering and cheering – but this one certainly did. When it comes to live music, it’s not what you go to hear, but what you hear when you go.
No recording could capture the incredible energy of this music, nor the physical response to its driving percussion. It began with a blast of sound and a plaintive brass dissonance, alternating with a lyrical melody, and conjuring up insistently sensual pre-Columbian rhythms.
The second movement, Night of Revelry (Noche de Jaranas), had bright, busy strings with a disturbing horn sound; chugging cross-rhythms and syncopations carried the merrymaking into the dawn.
Each percussionist played a short riff on his instrument before all 12 launched into simultaneous multirhythms. One rarely hears percussion like this, in which the sound goes directly into the body, not just the ear.
To play such a work, an orchestra requires extraordinary players and a conductor who has everything carefully considered so that the exciting music never spins out of control.
Mexican composer José Pablo Moncayo’s “Huapango” was inspired by three traditional dances from the state of Veracruz. The unofficial second national anthem of Mexico, it features high, cool trumpet, shifting duple and triple rhythms, and a lyrical middle passage and Barbara Chapman’s lovely solo harp. Turkish-born guitarist Celil Refik Kaya was the excellent guest soloist for “Concierto del Sur,” written for the legendary Andrés Segovia by Mexican composer Manuel Ponce.
Overall, the concerto felt rather disconnected, though very well played. The allegro moderato movement began with rolled chords, moving into light, delicate ripples of music with richly resonant bottom notes, punctuated by soft hand percussion on the guitar’s body. A solo passage went from fast riffs to quiet reverie. The andante movement developed, phrase by phrase, higher and higher before descending.
The solo work was surrounded by bright strings and woodwinds. There was a lovely small duet with flute in the final allegro movement, which was marked by dialogues with the orchestra.
Kaya’s encore was a jazzy, flowing new solo composition that ended on a cool seventh.
