{"id":1824,"date":"2018-05-30T17:54:36","date_gmt":"2018-05-30T21:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=1824"},"modified":"2018-12-30T17:58:59","modified_gmt":"2018-12-30T22:58:59","slug":"1824","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/news\/1824\/","title":{"rendered":"Herald Times Review of &#8220;Masterpiece&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 class=\"headline\">Review: Local residents lucky to have Bloomington Symphony Orchestra<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta\">\n<ul class=\"list-inline\">\n<li>\n<h1 class=\"headline\"><span class=\"tnt-byline\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><time class=\"tnt-date asset-date text-muted\" datetime=\"2018-05-21T23:04:00-04:00\">By Peter Jacobi, Herald-Times May 21, 2018<\/time><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>They\u2019ve found each other.<\/p>\n<div class=\"asset-content subscriber-premium\">\n<div class=\"subscriber-preview\">\n<p>After listening to a season of Bloomington Symphony Orchestra performances under its artistic director and conductor Alejandro Gomez Guillen, I deem the relationship a winner. Sunday evening\u2019s concert, a closer to the ensemble\u2019s 48th season, brought proof once again that the players and their leader are an artistic match.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>The city\u2019s community orchestra performed in tip-top shape, once again seemingly animated and inspired by what their maestro sought from and drew out of them. Their program was a series of challenges: three short items of very different natures and requirements; collaboration with 17-year-old violinist Phillip Hammond, winner of the orchestra\u2019s 2018 Youth Concerto Competition, and a taxing performance of none less than Tchaikovsky\u2019s Symphony No. 6 \u2014 \u201cPathetique,\u201d a mighty task to be sure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tncms-region-article_instory_top\" class=\"tncms-region hidden-print\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>The musicians emerged not only unscathed but prospering, as if for them there had been no question the challenges would be well met. And they were.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>Confidence level throughout the evening was at a happy high. The players appeared to know where they were going and how and why, the obvious result of a successful period of rehearsals under a conductor who understands his players and knows, not only musically but temperamentally, how to bring forth an energetic flow of sound, no matter what the score under exploration called for. His musicians looked and sounded comfortable and as an emotional unit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>Maestro Gomez Guillen opened the program with \u201cFanfare to la Peri,\u201d a ballet with mythological content, by the French composer Paul Dukas, best known for his orchestral piece \u201cThe Sorcerer\u2019s Apprentice,\u201d made famous in the classic cartoon feature film \u201cFantasia.\u201d The \u201cFanfare\u201d is indeed that: an exercise for brasses and chosen to show off the BSO\u2019s brass section, which distinguished itself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>As did the woodwinds in \u201cSerenade for Winds,\u201d an item Richard Strauss wrote when he was 17. Strauss showed his compositional mettle, proving he could showcase each instrument by highlighting its special sound qualities. The BSO brass distinguished itself by making the Strauss score come alive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>In an effort to encourage new composers, Gomez Guillen programmed the Indiana premiere of \u201cFive \u2014 Six \u2014 Seven \u2014 Eight\u201d (in a new orchestral version), written by Michael Schachter, an adventurous American composer\/pianist\/scholar\/educator. The score enters different stylistic and period musical worlds and presents musicians with wickedly tricky games involving metrics and pace. Our Bloomington musicians, carefully guided, made it through the thickets famously.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tncms-region-article_instory_middle\" class=\"tncms-region hidden-print\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>Competition winner Phillip Hammond distinguished himself with a sparkling account of the Finale from Max Bruch\u2019s popular Violin Concerto No. 1. Young Master Hammond has studied with Brenda Brenner at the IU String Academy and with Mimi Zweig as member of the Violin Virtuosi. He\u2019s expertly trained. His technique excels and features solid control. In addition, a natural gift allows him to give that violin of his a fetching sound, that of a blooming professional. Together, those attributes made for a bravura presentation of Bruch\u2019s music.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>The concert windup, Tchaikovsky\u2019s Sixth Symphony, contains 45 minutes of challenges for players, individually and as an ensemble. It also contains 45 minutes of sheer passion for a listener. Perhaps the composer sensed it: this \u201cPathetique\u201d would be his last. In its pages, Tchaikovsky seems to have explored his own life, its griefs more than happier times, but the whole is there for the listening in music of great beauty. He conducted the symphony\u2019s first performance in 1893 and died nine days later.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>Maestro Gomez Guillen had the musicians play with both warmth and fire. The contemplative, introspective moments were calmly and sensitively drawn. Memory-laden expositions engendered lyricism and peace. Tensions and troubles and turmoil brought the orchestra to chilling climaxes. And Gomez Guillen put them all together, in a compellingly sweeping performance that all involved could be proud of.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>One never knows hereabouts how long artistic relationships will last. The talented, such as Gomez Guillen, stay for a while, usually on the road to somewhere else. They\u2019re here to study at the university or are part of a family with someone else studying. Then, they\u2019ll be called on. That is likely the BSO\/conductor situation. But for now, the orchestra exists and its conductor is here, and they make for a splendid team. That\u2019s lucky for us who live in the area and consume the music. We\u2019ll benefit from the combine while it lasts, hoping it will continue for a longer rather than shorter while.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Review: Local residents lucky to have Bloomington Symphony Orchestra \u00a0 By Peter Jacobi, Herald-Times May 21, 2018 They\u2019ve found each other. After listening to a season of Bloomington Symphony Orchestra&hellip;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"tags":[],"news-category":[],"class_list":["post-1824","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1824\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1824"},{"taxonomy":"news-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-category?post=1824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}