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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2011 > January > 18 > Entry
Review: Austin Symphony Orchestra plays Dvorak’s “The New World.”
“America is full of Indians and wild animals,” says the voice of Antonin Dvorak. It’s 1891 and the composer is mulling over an opportunity to write a symphony.
Dvorak is reluctant, but accepts, and he embarks with his family to New York.
The swirling black and white footage of a sea voyage was a stunning beginning to the live, before-your-eyes film that played onstage above the live narrators and the Austin Symphony Orchestra with conductor Peter Bay, the film’s soundtrack.
The concert’s confusing title (Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s “Beyond the Score”) led to a slightly comical online disclaimer that read “NOTE: Chicago Symphony is not performing.” There was some confusion as to what the program entailed.
With the lush narration talents of Dianne Donovan, Rick Rowley and Tom Byrne (as Dvorak), the period film footage told the story of the construction of Dvorak’s ninth symphony, “The New World.”
The sea rocks and swells with Dvorak’s music pulsing, then the brick and iron of the city vibrates with the crush of people in Lower East Side markets. There’s footage of Niagara Falls and Native Americans in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.
Throughout, the narrators embody different characters. The composer is concerned that expectations of him are too great. He senses that he’s being asked “to create for them a national music.”
Dvorak is moved by the story of Hiawatha (actually a Scandinavian myth, we’re told), but here the film lulls, hitting the musical cues while abandoning the narrative.
For the second half, the ASO performed the symphony in its entirety.
It opened with good energy, building to the major theme, but the second movement began a little roughly, with imprecise entries from the brass. The winds and oboe, in particular, made up for it, carrying the solo melody.
The strings’ dynamics had, at times, some wonderful movement.
The third movement, though, felt a little sluggish, and would have welcomed a little more pace.
Although balance seemed fine, this listener’s ear formed a direct, and unfortunate, link to the bell of a trombone for most of the night, again suffering from the hyper-fragility of the Long Center’s acoustics.
Luke Quinton is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
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