PROVIDENCE, R.I — Mimicking nature itself, the pastoral in music makes fluid shapes.
Beethoven’s seminal Pastoral Symphony revels in realism, with portrayals of picnickers, birdsong, thunderstorms, and rustic celebration. In Eric Nathan’s Violin Concerto, premiered Sept. 19 by violinist Yevgeny Kutik and the Rhode Island Philharmonic in its season-opening concert, the pastoral blends with human nature as well: The rugged ascent to a mountaintop is envisioned equally as a collective challenge. Music director Ruth Reinhardt conducted both works, along with Samuel Barber’s The School for Scandal overture, in Providence’s Veterans Memorial Auditorium.
Nathan’s robust premiere was the centerpiece. The Mountains We Climb, the composer’s first violin concerto, is a half-hour parry-and-thrust between formidable soloist Kutik and the orchestra. Its origins flow from a quiet New Year’s gathering: Nathan’s international guests did not know “Auld Lang Syne,” so he picked out “Amazing Grace” on the piano instead. They lingered in thought on the last lines: “I was blind, but now I see.” It became an apt comparison to both the challenges of climbing and to the revelatory moment of reaching the summit. Orchestra and soloist trade ideas about those revelations throughout the journey.
The three substantial movements begin with an extended orchestral introduction that showcases the work’s signature technique, a sweeping swoosh that the conductor directs from left to right across the orchestra. The swoosh — realized with a mixture of blowing, bowing, and percussive techniques — invokes not only the vista but also the shifting challenges.
Soloist and orchestra stay perpetually active, save for the expansive orchestral introduction that features a questioning brass melody. The soloist eventually enters, and takes up the meandering melody but fractures it, shortening the phrases into staccato utterances. It’s an indication of how the piece will unfold, through interplay and alteration — learning from each other, leaning on each other. Kutik unfolded virtuosic lines with almost casual aplomb, listening and responding.
Nathan labels the movements as three Acts, underscoring the concerto’s narrative and theatrical aesthetic. Act I leans heavily on collaboration; the movement ends with soloist and orchestra diminishing to a whisper-soft dynamic level. Act II opens in the same tempo but strays into the minor rather than the major. The journey to the summit takes on a darker tinge and uncertainty of success.
Cadenza-like passages are common in each movement, around half a dozen, with the orchestra adding unobtrusive drone underpinnings to Kutik’s excursions. But in Act III, perhaps as the mountaintop has been reached and the perspective is being appreciated, an oboe (Cheryl Bishkoff) offers another idea, and the soloist takes it up and embarks on an unaccompanied cadenza. Kutik searched the fingerboard until finally an inkling of “Amazing Grace” emerged. The familiar hints left a sense of tranquillity and understanding.
A boldly played premiere with a deftly rendered Beethoven symphony formed an excellent programming nucleus. The German-born Reinhardt is in her second season with the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and it seems a fruitful match.
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 presents challenges, despite its emotional accessibility and familiarity: Its vivid portrayals demand unflagging attention. Reinhardt worked strictly to the tempo, rarely skipping a beat or an entrance cue, using a gestural vocabulary that facilitated understanding. This performance rode the strength of Reinhardt’s own enthusiastic maintenance of musical tension.
As in the violin concerto, the horns and winds proved to be the orchestral strength; both works shared musical love with the back of the stage. At times, the string sections missed conveying the unified sound the characterful score demands, notably in the third movement, when Beethoven gathers the merry picnickers before the storm. A few rests in the same movement could have been held longer for more deliberate intention.
The evening began with Barber’s first major work, The School for Scandal overture. The music features an unhinged fanfare and a mockingly sentimental oboe solo. Richard Sheridan’s 18th-century comedy of intrigue filled the hall. Can we bring Barber back?
Nathan’s concerto commission is shared by eight regional orchestras and two additional soloists (Stefan Jackiw and Curtis Stewart), who will premiere the work nationally during the next season. The concerto also marks the beginning of Nathan’s three-year appointment as the Rhode Island Philharmonic’s composer-in-residence. Future seasons will see a symphony premiere from him as well as a Requiem featuring cello soloist Zlatomir Fung.
