Hate to break it to you, but the music on the radio, in YouTube videos, in your iPod—it’s all dead. All recorded sound is a bunch of ones and zeros graphing—as best they can—the shape of a soundwave made in an isolated soundbooth far away and long ago. Technically speaking, the most vibrant music today is live music. Classical music carries on timeless sentiments over hundreds of years to touch and move audiences throughout time. For Kate Tamarkin, musical director of Charlottesville & University Symphony Orchestra, revitalizing century-old music is epitomally human. “There is a reason why people come back time and again to recreate this music,” she says.
Saturday’s Charlottesville & University Symphony Orchestra concert, “English Variations,” played heavily on the idea of reaching back to older traditions to inform current creative projects. Benjamin Britten’s “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra” took as its theme a motif from Henry Purcell, a 17th-century British composer. Immaculate and stunning already, Britten amped up Purcell’s theme to a magnificent, British imperialist-worthy orchestra study. After the grand statement of theme, Britten lead the audience through the orchestra sections, each with its own variation. The piece highlighted extremely well the overall instrumental caliber of the orchestra, most notably I-Jen Fang’s artfully restrained timpani playing during the percussion’s “Moderato Variation.”
Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis” continued the generational interplay, Tallis’ theme being composed in 1567 and Williams’ “Fantasia” in 1910. “Fantasia” takes the Tallis folk melody and injects it with a rich Celtic mysticism. CUSO’s string section unfolded the work to its fullest extent, taking the open nature of Williams’ orchestration and enveloping Old Cabell’s occupants in a thick sonic blanket.
Ending the program was Elgar’s “Variations on an Original Theme (Enigma).” “Enigma Variations” paints 14 portraits of lives past, 13 being Elgar’s friends and the fourteenth being Elgar himself. Most popular from the variations is “Nimrod”, a meditation subtly influenced by Beethoven’s “Pathétique Sonata.” Its achingly moving lines celebrate life, both in its glory and tragedy. The fourteenth variation brings back all the previous motifs creating an aural gathering of Elgar’s closest companions. Fun and playful yet deep and nuanced, it was a wonderful cadence to the piece and the concert. And what better way to end the most lively form of musical expression than with a party?
