Passing the baton between music conductors
ROSEMARY PONNEKANTI; The News Tribune
In a way, it sounds a little kinky. You’re in an orchestra, you make passionate music with your conductor. Then he steps aside, hands over the baton and off you go with someone completely different.
Yet swapping conductors isn’t actually as offbeat as it sounds. Collaborating with different people can give musicians a whole new energy and spin on the music. And that’s exactly what will be happening this weekend and next as the Northwest Sinfonietta and the Tacoma Symphony collaborate on the three-concert festival “Mozart Meets Beethoven.” They’ll be sharing the stage, sharing the two composers, sharing their conductors and – hopefully – sharing new ways to make music.
“We’ve had this idea for 15 years,” says Christophe Chagnard, music director for the sinfonietta. The classical chamber orchestra has played the Northwest for just a little over that time, and has collaborated with groups as diverse as Spectrum Dance Company, the Tacoma Art Museum and local playwrights. But it had never, until now, collaborated with the symphony.
“We came up with the Mozart-Beethoven idea,” explains Chagnard, “and it seemed a good idea to have two conductors also.”
As those two groups compete for the same classical music audience and grant money, such a collaboration might seem odd at first. But both conductors are excited about it, saying it’s good for audiences and players alike.
“I think there might be an element of curiosity,” says symphony director Harvey Felder.
Tacoma Symphony audiences “who’ve never heard the sinfonietta,” he said, “might go to find out what it’s about and vice versa. I would hope that audiences enjoy the experience and come back, enriching the classical music environment in our town.”
Chagnard points out the benefit of guest conductors to the musicians. “It can be a great thing – a different philosophy, technique, aesthetic choices. It can be very refreshing.”
Felder agrees, and as a conductor who spends half his time in Tacoma and the other half guest conducting from Boise to Wyoming to Atlanta to Finland, he ought to know.
“Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, and guest conducting calls on me to use different parts of my artistry,” he said.
For Tacoma’s orchestras, though, sharing conductors doesn’t mean an aesthetic takeover.
“I’m always mindful of an orchestra’s sensitivities,” says Felder. “Some conductors are very territorial, they mark out their way of doing things. When I guest conduct, it’s as a guest in someone’s house – I keep my identity, but I don’t criticize the draperies.”
And, as Felder points out, the orchestras have been collaborating unofficially for years, as musicians often double in both groups.
Aptly, the program is also a collaboration. Each concert features an overture, a piano concerto (with soloist Craig Sheppard) and a symphony by both Mozart and Beethoven, but mixed up. The two iconic 18th-century composers did meet once: In 1787, the 16-year-old piano prodigy Beethoven was sent to Vienna to learn from Mozart, then 31 and a central figure in Vienna’s musical life. The story goes that Mozart heard Beethoven play and predicted that “one day, he will give the world something to talk about.” But the lessons never transpired, and Mozart died four years later.
Yet their music is linked. Mozart’s melodic elegance and formal structure was both admired and broken by the younger, more revolutionary Beethoven, who lived 20 more years than his predecessor and had time to develop a more romantic style. The two Tacoma concerts explore these connections, with late Mozart works such as the overture to “Don Giovanni” and the furiously virtuosic “Haffner” symphony played by the sinfonietta, and mid-career Beethoven icons such as the “Emperor” piano concerto and the Symphony No. 5 played by the symphony.
Both conductors say they’re eager to hear the familiar works and will enjoy the unusual experience of sharing a concert.
“I’m looking forward to experiencing the sound and effect of a chamber orchestra,” says Felder. “I love that intimacy, it’s like being in a parlor.”
And, as Chagnard points out, the concerts prove that orchestras can be collaborators, not competitors: “When Harvey was hired 15 years ago, the question arose: Could Tacoma sustain two orchestras?” he says. “The answer was a resounding ‘Yes.’”
Rosemary Ponnekanti: 253-597-8568
rosemary.ponnekanti@thenewstribune.com
Pairs
What: Mozart Meets Beethoven
Who: Northwest Sinfonietta with conductor Christophe Chagnard and guest conductor Harvey Felder
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday (Seattle) and Saturday (Tacoma)
Where: Nordstrom Hall at Benaroya, 200 University St., Seattle; Rialto Theater, 310 S. Ninth St., Tacoma
Tickets: $19-$49
Information: 253-383-5344, 253-591-5894,
www.nwsinfonietta.org
What: Mozart Meets Beethoven
Who: Tacoma Symphony with conductor Harvey Felder and guest conductor Christophe Chagnard
When: 2:30 p.m. Nov. 22
Where: Rialto Theater, 310 S. Ninth St., Tacoma
Tickets: $24-$77
Information: 253-591-5894,
www.tacomasymphony.org
