Czech out symphony's Dvorak-filled concert Tuesday
Thursday, February 7, 2008 5:36 AM PST
By Tom Paulu
tpaulu@tdn.com
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E-mail this articleListeners can get a melodic overview of Antonin Dvorak, a Czech composer who created several of his best-known works in the United States, during a concert next week.
The Southwest Washington Symphony will do an all-Dvorak program Tuesday at the Columbia Theater. The public is also invited to sit in during the final rehearsal on Monday evening.
It's the second time symphony conductor Ryan Heller has focused on a single composer. In 2006, the symphony did an all-Mozart program to mark that composer's 250th birthday.
Though he's not as big a musical figure as Mozart, Dvorak's works are favorites with audiences. The composer, who lived from 1841 to 1904, had a genius for incorporating the tunes of his native country, which is now the Czech Republic, into classical compositions.
The concert will open with a couple of Dvorak's lively Slavonic Dances. Then come two major works Dvorak wrote while living in the United States in the 1890s.
His travels inspired "New World Symphony," the tour de force of next week's concert. Dvorak said black spirituals and Native American melodies inspired his work, which has become his most popular.
"It's a hallmark piece," Heller said. It's also long, at more than 40 minutes. "It's definitely a stamina challenge," said the conductor. "There are a lot of exposed horn parts. The wind licks are wonderful."
While living in the United States, Dvorak also wrote his cello concerto, one of the most popular works for that instrument.
For a soloist, the symphony turned to John Michel, who has recorded the work.
"Most of our concertos are all about flash," Michel said. "The Dvorak is much more than that. It has some flashy moments but it's about collaboration with the orchestra. It has a depth that most concertos don't."
As with other Dvorak works, "there are a lot of folk themes in it," Michel said.
Cello passages alternate with individual orchestral instruments. "It winds down in a sentimental ending," Michel said. Most concertos end with a fortissimo finale - "it's very unusual for a concerto to end in a whisper."
Michel, who grew up in Reno, Nev., has degrees from the University of Michigan and the New England Conservatory. He's been professor of cello at Central Washington University for 14 years.
He and his wife, Carrie Rehkopf, make up half of the Kairos String Quartet, a resident ensemble at Central.
Michel has been guest soloist with orchestras in Wenatchee, Yakima and Everett.
He plays an Italian cello made "around the time of Dvorak. It's a lot like me as a player," Michel said. "I like it because it's a little unpredictable."
If you go
What: Southwest Washington Symphony concert with an all-Dvorak program, including the "New World Symphony" and the Cello Concerto with cellist John Michel.
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
How much: Tuesday concert tickets: $16 adults, $13 seniors and $6 students. 575-8499 or (888) 575-8499. www.swwasymphony.org.
Note: The public is welcome to the free rehearsal from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday. Families are encouraged to come and watch the rehearsal process and the audience can come and go.
Where: Both events at the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts.
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