by John W. Lambert
Pianist Greg McCallum has
garnered considerable praise over the years – he's an active and engaged artist who is heavily
involved in many causes beyond his superior musicianship. He's just
returned from France, where he immersed himself in music, and his playing
during his first post-trip concert was exceptional in every respect.
The Triangle
Brass Band is one of our best regional ensembles – it's
a professional-grade group of all-stars, directed by our leading bandmaster,
Michael Votta, who has honed it to razor-sharp precision. And thanks
to this conductor and the TBB and his other fine ensembles (including
the NC Wind Orchestra), we've learned
a lot about music for bands and come to realize that there's a vast
amount of worthwhile
literature out there that mainline "classical" people – folks
who limit their concert-going to orchestral and chamber music programs – know
only peripherally, if at all.
Partnerships – and "outreach" – are all the rage,
thanks in part to the game of grantsmanship, the interest of some funders
in "diversity" (whether or not the ensembles routinely mirror
it), and the ever-present need to attract "new audiences." So
it should come as no great surprise that this fine pianist and this
fine band teamed up for a concert. Given the program, however, partisans
of the pianist and the band – and of both band and classical
music – must surely have thought this a somewhat strange lash-up.
That said, the partners come by their passion for this sort of thing
honestly, and it was no flash in the pan. McCallum has long sought
to merge musics of diverse origins, and his own compositions – one
of which figured in this program – and his recordings, too, have
been wildly successful. He's a stellar pianist with a heart and soul
that are as immense as his talent. And the band has given (or participated
in) some exceptional performances of major scores that few other groups
have undertaken here.
With that brief background, we turn to the program presented at the
Bible Church on October 14, when there were many competing music offerings
on the calendar. For openers, there was heavy security outside the
venue – two uniformed officers kept watch on the assembling patrons.
The venue – which served as the NC Symphony's Chapel Hill home-away-from-home
while Memorial Hall was undergoing renovation – is hospitable
for music, and it's large enough for a band to sound just fine, at
all volume levels, without overwhelming the listeners. The program
began with a saucy arrangement of the Overture to Rossini's Barber
of Seville – cartoon music for some, but a worthy piece that,
even in this guise, received a reading totally in keeping with the
composer's intent in terms of tempo and sculpted dynamics. There were
some minor glitches in ensemble as the players warmed to the task,
and the finale didn't sound at all familiar in this (uncredited) arrangement,
but the performance was well received. So, too, were probing readings
of three Debussy preludes, played by McCallum with fresh insight and
palpable emotion. There was a large-screen TV on which the pianist's
hands were projected from over his right shoulder, so everyone could
watch as he spun his impressionistic magic.
Next up was McCallum's Hymn Quilt (1998), a substantial offering
from his recent Southern Quilt CD that was enhanced by a display
of numerous quilts in the sanctuary. This is nominally a solo-piano
pastiche that
encompasses old hymn tunes, many of which have been mined by other
composers and arrangers. The audience joined in singing verses from "Amazing
Grace," and the TBB enriched "A Mighty Fortress" with
rich low-brass commentary, after which McCallum left the stage as Votta's
forces delivered a rousing performance of Jan Van der Roost's "Mercury
March," a repertory staple that turned out to be the band's only "straight" work
offered on this occasion.
The second half of the concert was devoted to a performance of Grieg's
celebrated Piano Concerto in A Minor, one of the great "Romantic" warhorses,
although it no longer turns up in concerts as often as it once did.
It was concurrently the evening's chief and most controversial attraction,
and I must 'fess that it has taken me a lot longer to come to terms
with this rendition than I'd anticipated. Indeed, it took three days
of pondering – and a glowing, impassioned reading of Grieg's
Cello Sonata (by Bonnie Thron and Antonio Pompa-Baldi – reviewed
by our colleague Roy C. Dicks) – before
the obvious issue finally dawned on me: what was missing in Chapel
Hill was strings. That was readily apparent, of course, but
this arrangement – not
credited in the program, and said to have been the work of several
hands – worked surprisingly well, for the most part, and the
overall quality of the playing led one to think that it was a basically-ok
version. The instrumental work by all concerned was good, and Votta
ensured excellent balance with McCallum, who could easily have been
inundated, but wasn't. The solo work was exceptional, insightful, varied,
and consistently appealing, and the soloist and conductor watched each
other like hawks at all the crucial points. The overall sonority was
rich and full, and the low brass instruments, in particular, sounded
as radiant as a great pipe organ, bringing to mind a comment once applied
to the NCWO that is appropriate here – bands are basically large,
multi-player wind (or brass) organs. But what was missing was the sonority
and texture that is usually imparted to this famous Concerto by strings – and
in retrospect it was that lack that made this performance a curiosity
instead of a completely satisfying musical experience.
