Following an amazing performance of Mahler’s 6th Symphony on Sunday night, the Sun Valley Music Festival continued to offer wonderful musical experiences. Even when performances were not the best, the festival’s community vibe and camaraderie create an excellent milieu to hear great music.
Now in its 40th season, the SVMF brings over 100 musicians to play 15 different concerts over three and a half weeks. The residents of Sun Valley and Ketchum, Idaho, house the musicians, and the public enjoys one-hour concerts, nearly all of which are free.
Funding comes from donors, grants, and a variety of other sources. The Sun Valley Company owns the facilities and the land they are on. Music Director Alastair Neal and Executive Director Derek Dean explained that work on the festival takes place all year. However, they are on the ground in the Sun Valley pavilion for only one month. The final product on stage is remarkable.
At a cost approaching $40 million, construction of the pavilion started in the fall of 2007. Working non-stop through the winter, it was ready for the 2008 festival. With a façade of white, travertine marble imported from Italy, the building is stunningly beautiful. It also has excellent acoustics for unamplified sound to 1,500 listeners under the collapsable roof.
On the lawn just outside, the festival projects the concert onto a large screen using seven video cameras placed around the pavilion. Watchers on the lawn get to see close-up shots of various performers playing during the concert. A state-of the-art sound system matches the sound with images being projected—all done in real time by sound and video engineers working in the basement of the pavilion. A festival audience can number several thousands.
Following a reception for donors on Monday evening, a quintet of the orchestra’s wind players gave a lovely performance. Ann Choomack on flute, Erik Behr on oboe, Susan Warner on clarinet, Andrew Cuneo on bassoon, and Elizabeth Freimuth on horn took turns introducing the pieces in the wide-ranging program.
There is not a large repertoire for this combination of instruments, so other composers had to arrange the pieces. The highlight was Warner’s arrangement of “Simple Gifts” from Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland. It was a very heartfelt performance of this slice of my favorite piece of American music.
Next was Tango Jalousie by Gade, arranged by Stig Jorgensen and a several early Hungarian Dances arranged by Ferenc Farkas. It ended with two pieces by the Cuban composer Paquito D’Rivera Aires Tropicales. It was just lovely.
The full orchestra returned to the stage on Tuesday evening for an hour’s worth of music by Jessie Montgomery and Ludwig van Beethoven. Neale conducted Montgomery’s Strum for String Orchestra. Originally written for a string quartet, this version starts that way with plucking and guitar-like strumming on the second violin, viola, and cello. The first violin, quietly at first, bows the melodic line. The rest of the ensemble adds layers to a rapidly paced fabric. Neale carefully brought out the rapid shifts in time signature, which resulted in a very clean and enjoyable performance.
Jessie Montgomery just finished her three-year assignment as the Mead Composer-in-Residence of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and versions of Strum have been performed in Chicago. The string quartet version is on the program of the first concert at Nova Linea Musica, a new contemporary music series at Guarneri Hall in the Loop. Wednesday, October 23, 2024, 6:30.
The second work on the program was something I have never really enjoyed all that much. Musically, Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in C-Major for piano, violin, cello, and orchestra has always left me a little underwhelmed. Whenever I encounter such a piece in concert, I always hope that I will hear something different that gives it new significance to my ears.
Tuesday’s performance started that way. With Stephanie Childress on the rostrum, the orchestra offered the opening theme very clearly and tightly, as it spread from the lower pitched instruments to the rest of the orchestra. Onstage, the woodwinds, brass, and timpani were on risers above the strings. Everything stood out clearly, and Childress was able to keep it balanced with a lovely blend.
Making up the trio was the orchestra’s concertmaster Jeremy Constant on violin and Amos Yang, the orchestra’s principal cello on that instrument. Playing piano was John Wilson, who, as a last-minute substitution for the ailing Peter Henderson, was quite effective.
The performance challenge of this concerto is for the three soloists, playing individually and as a unit, to stand out from the larger ensemble. Yang and Wilson did so nicely. Unfortunately, Constant could barely be heard. While it’s tempting for the high-pitched violin to soften the tone to allow the lower pitched cello to sound more clearly, in this case there was too little violin.
On the following night, Alasdair Neale returned to the podium with a program that started with A Joyous Trilogy by American composer Quinn Mason, who was present. He explained how the feelings of joy came through its three movements. Still in his twenties, this young composer wrote, “I wanted to create a composition that was the very embodiment of happiness and cheerfulness, and accessible work that would put any listener in a good mood.”
While composed before the pandemic and revised during it, A Joyous Trilogy is a nice respite for those trying times. The opening movement “Running” offers continuously driving happiness in a dance-like rhythm. In contrast, “Reflection” does just that, while giving a lovely solo to the trombone, played by principal trombonist Gordon Wolfe. “Renewal” returns to frolicking tempi.
Wednesday’s concert ended with a classical music chestnut, Violin Concerto in D-major by Johannes Brahms. Leonidas Kavakos was supposed to be the soloist, but an injury prevented him from performing. Stepping in was James Ehnes, who played his Stradavarious violin from 1715 in marvelous fashion with the orchestra.
Ehnes and Neale are longtime friends, and they interacted extremely well. The orchestra shone, especially Erik Behr, who gave a fabulous rendition of the oboe solo that opens the middle movement.
In a conversation before the performance, Ehnes acknowledged that the Brahms violin concerto is not the flashiest piece of music in the repertoire. What is vital, he said, is his role in preserving the flow and pace of the overall music. Sure enough, his solos kept the orchestral passages together like glue. And there certainly is plenty of challenging runs, double stops, and other things that require well-honed technique, which Ehnes displayed. His approach to the cadenzas, written by Joseph Joachim, was very introspective.
The Sun Valley Music Festival wraps up next Thursday. Tomorrow night is Pops Night: Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, where the orchestra will play the film score live as the movie is shown. Saturday, August 17, 6:30.