FOREWORD
“Bernstein’s Legacy” was the second Symphony NH concert of the music director finalist series, season one. Adam Kerry Boyles chose pieces that were favorites of the late great Leonard Bernstein. From the Preludes presentation and throughout the concert, Maestro Boyles shared stories that brought all of us to a better understanding of Bernstein as a conductor, musician, and gifted person. Members of the orchestra had high praise for the way Boyles interacted with the group. Equally, our InkLink Inkubator reporter, Faye Jones whose review follows below has wonderful insights into the evenings performance.
Faye Jones, a student at the Nashua Community Music School is this season’s InkLink News intern writing reviews of Symphony New Hampshire programs for us.
SymphonyNH and InkLink News are collaborating on a season long sponsorship of a student musician to attend concerts and share their thoughts and reactions to each experience. Faye Jones once again offers her thoughts about the conductor, the orchestra, and the program.
Bernstein’s Legacy with Adam Kerry Boyles, Music Director Finalist. A concert review by Nashua music student and Inkubator intern Faye Jones.
The Orchestra
NASHUA, NH – Symphony NH always delivers an astounding performance. The orchestra truly works hard to play every song beautifully. As always, Symphony NH has impressed their audience with their skill and dedication.
Firstly, the musicians on stage delivered a spectacular performance of the music at hand. I noticed a prominent repeating theme of musical phrases being passed from section to section. I saw this the most within Rissolty Rissolty. The imitation of a phrase played by many different sections requires preciseness and intense concentration. Which Symphony NH executed wonderfully. Along with that, there were many soloists throughout the concert, each with wonderful performances. Also, I believe it is just as important to mention how well the orchestra’s background chords during the solos allowed the soloist to shine, but also have a balanced sound to support them.
The Conductor
The conductor of a band should always be very direct with their signalling. They often are responsible for cueing soloists or sections, keeping the band on time, and directing the band to move with how their conductor interprets the piece. Tonight’s conductor made a wonderful example of every one of these things.
Adam Kerry Boyles led a wonderful concert Saturday night, Throughout the entire performance the conductor held the attention of the orchestra flawlessly. Along with that, making the effort to conduct with his entire body, cue the band with exaggerated movements based on how intense the music was.
I found the large cues kept the band together well. Another thing I caught during the performance was Adam using his free hand to make arcs. It appeared he was telling the band exactly how they should be phrasing the music, along with where the band should be pushing and pulling the phrase. There was so much instruction coming from the conductor, it kept the band’s eye on him, and allowed them to lean into Adam’s interpretation of the pieces.
The Pieces
Egmont Overture
This piece began immediately tense with chords played by the entire orchestra together. It started to build on itself, getting stronger and moving along quickly. As the music continues it leads directly into a magnificent resolve within the string sections.
The Egmont Overture also carried a lot of crescendos during the middle parts of the song. The orchestra played every single one of them evenly and together. The phrasing throughout this portion of the song was extremely expressive. Along with the phrasing, I would also like to make note of the tone throughout this entire piece. Especially during the resolution, all of the musicians carried such a broad and warm forte that really brought the music to life.
Towards the end of the piece the entire band got extremely quiet once again, and started to repeat a similar pattern from earlier. A slow build up into a huge resolve. The sound stayed bright and loud, the brass section was notably present in the ending portion of the song. Although even with their intense volume, they did not overpower the runs that the string sections were playing.
Rissolty Rossolty
Rissolty Rissolty was a piece inspired by folk music, meant to carry the idea of passing a melody through a group. The melody was moved from the strings and brass sections throughout the variations played.
The orchestra maintained a light and airy feel throughout the entire piece. In some places, it felt as if the musicians were skipping over the top of the notes instead of a heavy landing on each one. I feel like this kept in touch with the folk music feel while also having the instrumentation be completely orchestral.
Towards the end both of the brass and string sections were keeping that warm tone throughout. Along with that, the balance between sections was done excellently, especially with the dynamics changing throughout the piece, the blend and balance between all of the musicians ensured every section was heard, making the piece feel complete. Finally, the band was able to make two clean cutoffs at the very end of the piece in order to fizzle out the same way that a folk song would. This effect is done beautifully by both the orchestra and the conductor.
Adaggieto – Favorite Piece
From the moment this piece began, the music felt soft and dreamlike, and the orchestra carried such an elegant tone throughout the entirety of the piece. The upper strings did a phenomenal job with phrasing, and the lower strings did an equally amazing job with how they supported and complimented the upper instruments. Along with that, the vibratos in the bass section really added to the texture of the music
Secondly, the orchestra did a great job with crescendo-ing and decrescendo-ing throughout the piece. Not only was it even and together, they were able to become so quiet and keep so much intensity in the sound. I was in absolute awe through this entire piece. The composition was so beautiful and Symphony NH created such a stunning interpretation of the piece.
My favorite part of the piece was the harp feature. Both the pass off from the band and the pickup from the harpist was fabulous, and the entire part added to the elegant nature of this piece. The performer did an outright wonderful job. Also, the orchestra had such a beautiful sound when they quieted down during this piece, their intonation was certainly amazing during these parts as well.
Symphony No. 5
This first movement of this piece began with many short crescendos and decrescendos. One thing I would like to mention near the beginning of the piece was the sixteenth note runs among the upper winds. The sections playing passed those lines around flawlessly. Along with that, you could prominently hear the oboe, clarinet, and flute playing against the entire orchestra, which definitely shows how much focus the instrumentalists have with balance, and how much they are listening to one another.
Continuing on, the piece begins to get more intense. The piece speeds up, and the string section is playing fast runs whilst at the same time contrastingly, the brass section is playing longer accented notes that fill the entire room with sound. The orchestra still does a great job staying balanced in the portion of the piece. Another part of this piece
I particularly enjoyed was the horn soli in the first movement when the piece slows back to andante. Their tone was wonderful, and it gave the same effect of moving that sound through the whole auditorium even under a quieter dynamic.
This piece contained plenty of solo moments for many sections, particularly a lot within the high wind section. Although there were many short solos and solis from the low brass as well. This song’s movements had a lot of moving parts that passed along from section to section. Which takes so much focus from both the musicians and the conductor. I saw many cues coming from the podium throughout this piece.
The orchestra did a wonderful job with combining all of these moving parts together. Similar to the rest of the night, everything felt balanced from section to section along with the orchestra’s ability to switch the tones quickly between a light and airy passage to immediately switch gears into an eerie dissonant one. It was truly astounding to listen to such a talented group of musicians get together and put together such a complex piece of music.
Tickets are available here for the remaining concerts this season
April 18th New Hampshire Passions · Tianhui Ng, Music Director Finalist
Faye Jones is a junior at Nashua High School North. She is an aspiring musician who looks forward to studying music education in college. She is involved in her school’s music program and very passionate about her role as one of the drum majors for the Nashua North Titans marching band. She also loves to play in the school jazz band. On top of this, she has been learning to play the double bass for Upbeat Youth Orchestra. Outside of the musical world, Faye has recently earned her first-degree black belt in American Kenpo. Some of her other interests include painting, skateboarding, and spending time with friends and family at the beach.
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