Metropolitan Orchestra Scores Again

Beethoven, Italian bel canto and jazz fusion launched what promises to be a bold and diverse fifth season of the Metropolitan Orchestra of St. Louis (MOSL) on September 18 at the orchestra's primary venue at First Presbyterian in Kirkwood.  Few ensembles have carved out such a niche for themselves so quickly as has MOSL, and much of the credit must go to its founder and Conductor Laureate, Allen Larson.

In an era where orchestras are struggling to maintain themselves and prove their "relevance" in contemporary society, MOSL seems to do the job almost effortlessly. Some of the older mainline orchestras have sought validation by commissioning new works of dubious merit; the results in some cases have been disastrous as audiences have voted with their feet.  MOSL's repertoire on their opening night captured both the genius of the classical world while keeping an eye to the future.

Opening night for any serious orchestra must be a celebratory occasion.  Accordingly, Larson chose to kick off the program with Gioacchino Rossini's sparkling and engaging overture to "L'Italiana in Algeri" (An Italian Girl in Algiers).  The music is happy and playful to the ears, full of twists and turns.  Since its inception, the orchestra has steadily increased its overall skill level to where brisk tempos and rapid contrasts are easily handled.  Within minutes the near-capacity audience was already enjoying themselves and clamoring for much more.

Pianist Dominic Cheli joined the orchestra for a brilliant performance of Beethoven's Concerto No. 4 in G Major.  Although still in his early twenties, Cheli is already a home town hero.  Having gotten his start under the tutelage of Zena Ilyashov and other local pedagogues, he went on to win the Young Artist Competition held at St. Ambrose on the Hill and other local honors.  After graduating from the Manhattan School of Music, he earned his master's degree at the Yale School of Music with the highest honors, made recordings under the Naxos label and is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma at the Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles.

Although the fourth concerto is filled with virtuoso challenges and musical fireworks, it is also a work of deep lyricism and introspection.  It is hard to believe that someone as young as Cheli is able to play with the insight and tenderness that we would expect from a much older and more experienced performer.  Cheli transformed the piano into a mini-orchestra of its own, echoing the agility of a violin, the singing of a flute or the deep responsive voice of a double bass.  His touch was resonant and rich, with unerring accuracy.  The excellent balance maintained between the solo piano and the orchestra made the entire performance particularly gratifying and easy on the ears.

The second half of the program featured the 442s, the classical/jazz fusion group founded by Adam Maness and St. Louis Symphony musicians Shawn Weil, violin, and Bjorn Ranheim, cello, with Syd Rodway on bass.  Named after the favored tuning frequency in general use today (442 cycles per second for the A above Middle C--trending upward from 415 in the Baroque period), this group forms a perfect bridge uniting the old with the new.  After hearing the group's take on such traditional forms as an Irish reel, Latin rhythms and traditional soaring melodies, one begins to realize that Beethoven, Rossini and every creative genius from the past continue to inspire our present-day idioms.   Adam Maness is a composer, arranger, keyboardist (and accordionist, percussionist, vocalist and more) for the group.  Each of the performers, in fact, wears more than one hat, depending on the needs of each piece.  Hearing the group merge with the orchestra makes it easy to see how symphony orchestras remain a potent force as the backbone of both our classical and popular traditions. 

Combining a jazz ensemble with a symphony orchestra is not necessarily unique anymore, but to do so on an opening program as a herald of the season to come is a wonderful means of demonstrating versatility, relevance and a commitment to the new as well as to the old.  Anyone who attended MOSL's opening night will surely be eager for more.  We are blessed with many great ensembles in the St. Louis region.  The great thing about institutions such as the Metropolitan Orchestra is that its presence helps fully establish and maintain the foundations on which our musical life is founded.

From Vienna to St. Louis

Last Sunday evening I was invited to review the concert presented by the Metropolitan Orchestra of St. Louis.  I invited a couple of friends to accompany me.  Both were halting in their acceptance, due to pressing matters in other directions, and one in particular just wasn't sure he was ready for me to drag him to yet another musical event.

But...once the program opened with Allen Carl Larson, Conductor Laureate, leading the orchestra in a performance of the lushly beautiful Adagietto from Gustav Mahler's (1860-1911) Symphony No. 5, that friend was completely hooked into the program.  Why?  Because he realized that this would be a program of substance, not designed to impress critics but to speak to the listening audience who are often unappreciated by performing organizations, but who make up the backbone of support for performing organizations. 

The Metropolitan Orchestra is a grassroots ensemble that fills a niche in a city that knows no shortage of performing organizations, yet the capacity crowd demonstrated that that niche exists.  People are hungry for substance and meaning in art, but they also hunger for deeper knowledge and understanding of what they see and hear.  Too often, modern day symphony orchestras are quick to force grant-driven avant-garde works upon audiences without first making sure they comprehend the basic language of musical structures.  MOSL is one of many newer ensembles springing up to provide both an educational and esthetic experience.  In some cases these ensembles are completely amateur, and in some cases they are a combination of professionals and amateurs, and in some cases they are fully professional--the category to which MOSL trends--but they are all making an impact on the cultural landscape.  

Until our elementary and secondary schools can provide a more complete education in the arts (and no, it's not just a matter of money), institutions such as MOSL are introducing multi-generational audiences to our vast artistic heritage.

MOSL was joined by the Concert Choir of Webster University for a performance of Mozart's (1756-1791) famous motet, "Ave Verum", followed by the Mass No. 11 in D Minor, the "Nelson Mass" (named in honor of the visit of Lord Nelson to Vienna following his defeat of Napolean) by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809).  The Choir, under the direction of Trent A. Patterson, is an outstanding chorus, without doubt one of the finest in the country.  They performed with a magnificent blend, firmly on pitch and with careful diction and well-sculpted phrasing.  Soloists in the Mass--soprano Heather McKenzie Patterson, mezzo Martha J. Hart, tenor Keith Boyer and bass Jeffrey Heyl--matched the Concert Choir's skill, negotiating Haydn's rapid-fire passages with gusto, verve and energy.  

A common bond among all three featured composers on the program is the fact that all three had lived and worked in Vienna for at least a certain period of their lives.  Together, they spanned an era of music history stretching from 1732 to 1911.

Allen Larson has never been one to rest on his laurels, and the Metropolitan Orchestra is only the latest jewel in his distinguished career.  MOSL is fortunate to have a permanent and acoustically adequate home at the First Presbyterian Church in Kirkwood, Missouri--and can even boast of ample and free parking, which should not be underestimated for serious concertgoers.  The St. Louis community is blessed to have such an institution in our midst. 

Is It Time to Stop "Certifying" Teachers?

According to the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, the United States spends more on education than any other nation except Switzerland.   Although the misinformed keep assuring us that all our educational ills can be fixed if we only throw more money into education, we now know that such a statement simply isn't true.  It is time for those who truly care about education to teach others that money is not the solution.  Perhaps it is even part of the problem...

Perhaps it is time to take a hard look at teacher education.  A profession that refers to a certified person as being "certificated" may already show that we have a problem.  Instead of forcing teachers to spend years on educational methodology courses, perhaps we should insist instead on teachers developing greater command of their subject(s).  While we're at it, perhaps we should also re-examine the god-like emphasis we place on using "technology" in the classroom.  Technology should be a tool and nothing more, but not an end in itself.  A good teacher should be able to use whatever tools he or she deems appropriate.

It is a tragedy and an utter disgrace to contemplate the fact that geniuses such as Beethoven, Mozart, Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci and Einstein, to name only a tiny few, would not have been allowed to teach in an American public school, simply because they would not be "certificated".  Every American should be ashamed of this.

Ignorance is a threat to our very survival as a nation and a people.

A Noble Idea

A close friend of mine has tired of the empty celebrations that surround the July 4 holiday in the United States.  He feels it would be better if we observed the nation's birthday by studying the democratic ideals that shaped the country and the people who originated them.  Perhaps then we might have better reasoned political debates than the current debacles we face. 

Given the fact that history is woefully given short shrift in too many American schools, his idea may be a sound one.  It is time we realized that learning is too important to entrust solely to our schools.  When we consider such nonsense as a North Carolina state "educator" and curriculum designer seriously suggesting that the NC high school American history curriculum should include only events dating from 1877, we realize how important it is for each of us to learn and teach.  Students in North Carolina--and everywhere--deserve better.  To accept such a responsibility is empowering...and humbling.  It could even be fun to devise clever and entertaining methods of bringing history to life:  plays, readers theatre, contests, music, etc. 

It is important to remember that the founding fathers did call for public celebrations, including bonfires and other commemorations, so we certainly shouldn't rob July 4 of its joyful and communal atmosphere.  But surely we can find a better way to glorify our history than simply setting off firecrackers.

A Thought about Baltimore

As the events in Ferguson and Baltimore--and now Charleston--have unfolded over the past two summers, one recollection keeps returning to me.  Ironically, it was in Baltimore that the great African-American writer and orator Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) finally encountered a measure of kindness from white people.  In the midst of all the vicious cruelties Douglass recounts in his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he notes with gratitude that it was in Baltimore that he first learned to read and write.  Initially, his mistress there, Sophia Auld, taught him the rudiments of the alphabet and simple words, but her kind intentions were halted by her husband, who understood that the ability to read and write would empower a slave far more than any weapon.  Gradually, Mrs. Auld became as callous and cruel as other slave owners.  Douglass says of her, "Slavery proved as injurious to her as it did to me."   Her soul was destroyed in the process of being a slave owner. 

Providentially, Douglass was able to secure other sources of learning.  The local white children, many of whom were poor and deprived themselves, were happy to share with Douglass the limited knowledge which they had accrued.  In Baltimore, Douglass had been given more food to eat than when he subsisted on meager rations on the plantation.  He writes that bread was plentiful in the Auld household in the city, and Douglass gratefully shared bread with the white children who helped him learn to read. 

How sad that nearly 200 years ago there was at least a brief moment of kindness and cooperation between the two races, yet today strife has lingered.  If it happened once; surely it can happen again...and again.

Eastern Europe Impacts the Heartland

Recently I had the occasion to see Wes Anderson's latest cinematic entry, "The Grand Hotel Budapest", an engaging and brilliantly imaginative farce inspired by the writings of the Viennese writer Stefan Zweig.  The movie entertains the senses and feeds the brain, so much so that I went to view it a second time and will likely see it again in the future.  However, I now find myself increasingly fascinated with the life of Zweig, a brilliant and insightful observer whose fortune in life caused him to be witness to the most tragic period of European history, the Nazi era.

Zweig was a non-observant Jew who made his entry into the world in 1881.  The glitter and hope of Europe in the early 20th century was shattered by its grim collision with World War I.  A certain measure of idealism flourished even during that bleak period.  However, the descent of Europe into the hell of World War II eradicated the remaining hopes and dreams of intellectuals such as Zweig.  Realizing that in Hitler's depraved universe non-observant Jews were regarded as equally worthy of death as those who identified fully with their heritage, Zweig made his way to New York with his second wife, Lotte Altmann, in 1940 and, later that year, to the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro.  Growing increasingly depressed with the worsening world situation and despondent that humanity had sunk so low, the two committed suicide with a barbiturate overdose in 1942.

Hopelessness is searing and painful.  By its very nature, those who have lost all hope feel it is useless to even attempt to go on.  Ironically, Stefan Zweig remains a celebrated writer to this day, and the home outside Rio where he and his wife lived is now a museum established in his honor.  A further touch of irony is the fact that Wes Anderson's treatment of Zweig's view of the world seems, to me at least, to ignite both hope and a bit of renewed faith.  One can only hope that somehow the souls of Zweig and his wife are aware of the impact they wielded on the rest of us.

Which brings us to this question:  Where are we now?  Has humanity learned anything?  How do we face life in a post-20th century world?  Each of us must decide.

Education "Reform"

Another sad bit of news has emerged from the education front.  Once again, another school district has elected to deal with the problem of declining graduation rates not by addressing the problem, but simply by making it easier to graduate.

The public school district of Washington, D.C., is considering a proposal to eliminate social studies from the required curriculum.  Some pundits have already noted that course in civics and social studies have already been dumbed-down substantially in many areas, but this policy change would simply eliminate such study altogether.

To be fair, it should be noted that the Washington schools now require a minimum of two years of a foreign language, which is a major improvement, but this proposal strikes at the heart of American citizenship--ironically so in the very capital of the United States.

This development is a chilling reminder of the proposal floated awhile back in North Carolina to eliminate formal study at the high school level of American history prior to 1877.

Policies that lead away from the study of history and government are an affront to all, but particularly to minorities and any groups who struggled for rights and recognition and whose record of past activities would now be ignored.  Such an action is unconscionable in this supposedly "enlightened" era.

There is much good news in education, but dumbing-down of curriculum would scarcely fall into such a category.  As a nation, we need to realize that we have focused far too long on the funding of education, and far too little on what is being taught, what is not being taught, and how it is being taught.