United States Beethoven, Haydn, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky: Gerhardt Zimmermann (conductor), Canton Symphony Orchestra, Umstattdt Hall, Canton, Ohio (USA), 16.2.2013
Beethoven: Egmont Overture (1810)
Haydn: Symphony No. 94 (Surprise) (1792)
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade (1888)
Tchaikovsky: Marche Slave (1876)
On February 16, 1938, the newly formed Canton Symphony Orchestra (CSO), conducted by Richard W. Oppenheim, gave its first-ever concert at the Canton City Auditorium before a sold-out crowd of 3,300 listeners. Seventy-five years to the day after that rousing debut, the CSO re-created the same program in Umstattd Hall with a clearly impassioned Maestro Gerhardt Zimmermann at the podium, conducting an equally inspired orchestra.
While this was a concert of very familiar works which have endured as international audience favorites, there was nothing “old hat” or phlegmatic about Zimmermann’s readings. As always, he effectively ignited this orchestra’s unity of purpose, as well as its capacity for investing the familiar with startlingly fresh aural fire. What was old became new again, wholly meriting repeated ovations from an enthralled audience.
Much of the CSO’s signature charisma is rooted in the astonishing string section, which on this occasion was as warmly sonorous, technically impeccable and powerfully emotive as I’ve ever heard, beginning with the Beethoven Egmont Overture. It is no small feat to make the dramatic tensions and triumphal heroism of Egmont palpable, and that is precisely what the orchestra achieved here with an edge-of-your-seat intensity.
Though certainly less stormy in nature (and indeed lightweight by comparison), Haydn’s Symphony No. 94 is nonetheless sweetly engaging in its overall lyricism and effervescence—qualities which the orchestra rendered with jaunty confidence. As for the so-called surprises (acknowledging those listeners who may have never encountered the piece), they still retain their appeal in much the same way a classic joke does. In the sudden fortissimo chord with accompanying drum whack in the lilting second movement, and the unexpectedly loud timpani roll in the spritely final one, in each case you know the punch line and when it’s coming, yet it brings a smile every time.
For the evening’s second half, everything that makes this musical body a true cultural treasure was in glorious form. From the precisely balanced aural dynamics of all sections and their depth of color and texture, to the many flawless passages from soloists, the entire orchestra brought breathtaking thrust to the complex, exotic Scheherazade and the thundering panache of Marche Slave.
Throughout Rimsky-Korsakov’s masterpiece, concertmaster Lauren Roth poured an unforgettable and otherwise larger-than-life dimensionality into her soaring violin cadenzas. The intense sensuality of her bowing brought to mind a sorceress wielding her magic wand, entrancing us with tales of love and adventure. Her playing often exuded a mournful urgency, at times beautifully echoed in the solo passages from principal cellist Erica Snowden. Roth’s inspiring virtuosity is a vital asset to this orchestra, already deep with talent.
According to a recent article in The Repository, Canton’s daily newspaper, at one point during the original 1938 concert, the vice-chairman of the Canton Symphony Association said to the audience, “We have sown musical seeds in Canton. Now it is up to us to keep the soil fertile and cultivated.” Seventy-five years later, it is eminently clear that Canton has reaped a sumptuous, bountiful harvest.
Tom Wachunas