Concert Review: Chestertown’s National Festival by Steve Parks

The National Music Festival, now in the orchestral phase of its two-week residency at Washington College, performed one of its signature apprentice-and-mentor concerts Saturday night, anchored by Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3, better known as “The Scottish Symphony,” conducted by festival artistic director Richard Rosenberg.

Most of the players in these symphonic concerts are talented young musicians who are on the cusp of professional careers. Coming from about 30 states and a dozen countries, they auditioned for a spot in the festival to be mentored by seasoned professionals and teachers who perform among them in major concerts on campus at the Decker Theatre concert hall. First up was Friday night’s program featuring Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, with soprano soloist Caitlin Redding, whose usual concert venues are in Barcelona, Berlin and other European arts capitals.

I wondered why several men in the lobby on Saturday, waiting for the pre-concert talk to begin, wore kilts. But then it dawned on me. Of course, the “Scottish Symphony” was the final piece for what turned out to be an all-Scottish program. The first of the evening – Overture in C, Opus 1, No. 2 by Thomas Erskine, the 6th Earl of Kellie – is a title linked to the 12th-century Scottish castle. Erskine was famed for his talent as a composer but also for notoriety as founder of an all-male drinking club. His music fell into obscurity in modern times. So its performance in the festival was something of a curiosity.

Written in the 1760s for a comic opera that made its way to London’s Covent Garden Royal Opera House, the overture in three movements bears some resemblance to a symphony, but not quite full blown. Its sprightly opening creates a see-saw aural effect as written for the string section, broken only by occasional brass and clarinet shoutouts.  The more solemn second movement resembles a strings-only weeping fit that settles into a soothing melody only to switch back and forth before the third movement’s rhythmically danceable motif presents a catchy, if repetitive, melody. Conductor Elisabeth Thomas and the mostly strings orchestra deliver a coherent interpretation of a flawed and outdated museum piece of an overture. An “underture,” if you will.

The difference in quality of composition takes a notable leap with Alexander Campbell Mackenzie in his Pibroch Suite for Violin and Orchestra, ably conducted by Britney Alcine. (Pibroch is associated with Scottish bagpipe music, but no bagpipers were in play Saturday night.) Though his music largely fell out of favor after Mackenzie’s death in 1935, a 1997 recording by Malcolm Stewart and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra brought new attention to the piece’s robust and physically challenging intensity. Although technically written for violin and orchestra, one of the most outstanding contributions by the latter were harpist Eric Sabatino’s dreamy embroidery as violin soloist Emma McGrath endeavored to bring us to tears,  playing her melodrama that ends the first-movement “Rhapsody” with a whispering whistle of bow-on-string.

The middle “Caprice” movement is indeed capricious – given the abrupt changes from dramatic violin pyrotechnics to a tender folk motif that enlivens the full orchestra – brass section and all –  with the opportunity to be more than a mere supporting cast. The final “Dance” movement begins with a chattering solo passage by McGrath, up and down the scale at a flawlessly furious pace with rare breaks from the lead. She looked at times as if she was about to cry herself – maybe from exhaustion at the extraordinary volume of notes to execute, leading to a thunderous finish with all strings on board, led by mentor concertmaster Dane Goode and, of course, the star soloist.

Most remarkable was that McGrath only started to learn the piece a few weeks earlier when the scheduled violin soloist had to drop out. The standing ovation she earned required an encore appearance to take one more bow.

Intermission gave a welcome break, not just for the audience, but for the final performance of the evening with such a tough act to follow. Fortunately, Richard Rosenberg was conducting a piece that more fully engaged the whole orchestra, which proved up to the challenge. Swollen to its fullest extent with upwards toward 90 musicians made for a richer sound than you can expect these days from even the finest professional orchestras whose players all must be paid.

The orchestra got to show its muscle in the somber opening Andante, followed by the sound-and-fury of the aptly named Allegro “agitato” that concludes the first movement. The relatively brief Vivace second movement, introduced with barely a pause, a Scottish folk music theme both in melody and rhythm, which grew in intensity and pace to something of a gallop. The third movement Adagio, suggesting a pastoral scene with a thunderous interlude that subsides before alternating in pace and mood again. Another very brief pause signals the final movement’s serialist Allegro starting with the “guerriero,” which sounds and signifies a combative stance. It’s followed by an Allegro “vivacissimo,” vibrantly fast-paced as if reacting to danger or strife. The Allegro “maestoso,” builds to a triumphant finish heralded by an all-brass bugle call or in this case, trumpet and horn, with patriotic fervor.

There’s another week of the festival ahead. Besides the orchestral concerts, there are intimate chamber music performances, free “Lunchtime Bites” recitals and outdoor pop-up concerts in various Chestertown locations, as well as master classes and open rehearsals. Rehearsing for concerts in a week or less gives the apprentice musicians experience they will need as professionals performing in ensembles ranging from string or brass quartets to full symphonic orchestras.

This year’s cast of mentors include Brazilian guitarist Camilo Carrara and violinist McGrath, who traveled from Australia, where she is concertmaster of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. They join mentors who have been with the festival since its 2011 inception: Dana Goode (violin), Jared Hauser (oboe), Jeff Keesecker (bassoon), Tom Parchman (clarinet) and Jennifer Parker-Harley (flute).

Among the upcoming festival concerts are Friday, June 14, featuring a Rossini overture and Emilie Mayer’s Symphony No. 1, and the June 15 Saturday night finale culminating in the Ravel orchestration of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” with Rosenberg conducting.