The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 69, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, September 18, 1981 Page: 7 of 16
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Thresher/Fine Arts
HSO opens with ceremony and quality
H/"V L . i •-< . _
Houston Symphony Orchestra
Jones Hall
Season Premiere
It was with sound and tury that
the Houston Symphony Orchestra
began its 68th season. Fresh
interpretations of Elgar's Pomp
and Circumstance and Mahler's
Symphony No. 1 in D Major were
complemented by Prokofiev's
Violin Concerto No. I. Ruben
Gonzalez performed on violin
while Maestro Comissiona
directed the symphony.
Being the first concert of the
season, Comissiona opened
traditionally with The Star
Spanzled Banner, bringing
audiences to its feet. As if this
were not enough of an exercise in
banality, he continued with the
Art
Elgar; the performance was,
however, surprising. Comissiona's
lively interpretation, mixed
with the power of the HSO brass
(who would be soon heard from
again in the Mahler), made for an
unexpectedly enjoyable beginning.
Ruben Gonzalez, the evening's
soloist, is the new concertmaster of
HSO. He has performed
throughout Germany and South
America, where he was born.
His experience in the States
includes the Minnesota and
Syracuse Symphonies.
Despite his credentials,
Gonzalez's performance of the
Prokofiev was disappointing.
Throughout the piece, he struggled
with the orchestra, continually
having to drag them along behind
his expressive phrases. Subtlety
was lacking in the woodwinds, and
the blending between soloist and
orchestra was never quite right.
In addition to his problems of
not blending with the orchestra,
Gonzalez had some problems of
his own. The swift upward runs
gave him technical problems,
missed pitches, and insecure
rhythms. His interpretation was
very expressive —although
perhaps too whimsical and
unrestrained. However, he did
take excellent advantage of the
dissonant passages, hammering
them out as they should be. Of all
three movements, the last was best;
the soloist-orchestra communica-
tion improved.
The Mahler was by far the treat
Fragments from the art continuum
The Diaghilev Heritage
Museum of Fine Arts
Romanski Gallery
The Museum of Fine Art,
capitalizing on the present
popularity of ballet, is now
showing two dance-related
exhibitions. The first is The
Diaghilev Heritage: Selections from
the Collection of Robert L. B.
Tohin Collection, and another
smaller show is an exhibition of
photographs of Njinsky (taken by
Baron Adolphe de Meyer) in his
role of the Faun in L'apres-
midi d'un faun. The shows are in
conjunction with the Houston
Ballet, who is including the
Diaghilev work Daphnis and
Chloe in their performances this
weekend.
The Diaghilev Heritage is a
collection of costume and se*
designs from Diaghilev's company
Les Ballets Russes. These designs
are both works af art as well as
memorabilia of what was the finest
ballet company of its time.
Walking through the two rooms of
the exhibit is like walking through
a scrapbook of Diaghilev's life, of
the life of the company that he
created and nurtured, and of the
flavor of art at the turn of this
century.
Except for a Degas sculpture
which opens the exhibit, the art is
all the product of Russian
contemporaries of Diaghilev. One
of the first series of paintings is by
Alexandre Benois. His set and
costume designs, in watercolor,
pencil, gouache, and ink on paper
seems to capture a realistic sense of
Danse Indo-Persane costume pour la
marquise casati, 1912
theatrical space. He uses the device
of several layers of paper glued on
top of one another to create depth
and make the transition from the
flat world of visual art to the full
world of performing art easier for
the imagination. The delicacy and
accuracy of his work capture and
portray the fantasy of the ballet
world that is its greatest virtue.
Another one of the featured
artists of the exhibition is Mikhail
Larionov. His sketches and
etchings appear to be caricatures
of Diaghilev characters, taking on
forms that one expects in Cubism
or Hopi art. His representations of
Les contes russes are the faery
creatures that enchant children
with ballet and d:,a'A them in to
become the next generation of
dancers.
Natalia Gontcharova is the most
diverse artist in the show. About
half of her work looks like a
Mexican mural in style: her people
have big brown eyes, dark skin,
and are dressed in bright geometric
watercolors. These are purely
works of art, her impressions of
what the dancers looked like from
the audience perspective. Her
other works are costume designs,
done in the palest of watercolors.
Gontcharova both creates the
impression that is to be seen on
stage, and then records that
impression.
The last major artist of the show
is Leon Bakst, who was one of
Diaghilev's major costumers and
set designers. Baskt works in
media ranging from water color
with silver gouache overlay to pen
and pencil line sketches on paper.
Bakst was the creator of the
costumes for the L'apres-midi d'un
faun photographs that compose
the Nijinsky exhibit.
These photographs of Nijinsky
in L'apres-midi are a summary of
the dreamy romances of the Faun.
The photos have been modified in
the negative state, so that they
appear as rohiantic stills from a
Greek frieze, or perhaps from the
mind of the Faun himself. They are
fragments, as any permanent
representation of dance must be,
and yet at^lhe same time they
reflect part of the continuum of the
movement of ballet.
— Deborah Knaff
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of the evening. This is a solid piece,
an appropriately admirable choice
for the season's opener. Com-
missiona's interpretation was
good. He showed both restraint
and flexibility where they were
needed, pushing the orchestra to
its limit.
The first few bars were perhaps
the most difficult of the piece.
Balance and pitch problems were
apparent here. However, the piece
was soon brought under control
and, except for* a few losses of
intensity within movements, was
very exciting. In general, more
finesse was needed in the
woodwinds, especially the oboe.
Overlooking some obvious missed
notes, the brass played
exceptionally. Unfortunately, the
power of the brass was not
mat.hed by the woodwinds and
strings, causing occasional balance
problems
problems.
Music
Ruben Gonzalez
occasional balance problems.
The performance of the Mahler
was stunning; pushing the
orchestra to its technical limit, but
solid nonetheless. Hopefully the
excitement and sonority
demonstrated in this concert will
be typical of the whole season. It's
obvious Maestro Comissiona is on
his way to providing Houston with
the quality of symphony that a city
this size deserves.
I.oren Fefer
SPA's superb Perlman
Itzhak Perlman
September 9
Violinist Itzhak Perlman
opened the 1981-82 Society of
Performing Arts concert season on
Wednesday night in Jones Hall
with a sold-out recital for his
Houston debut. Although
Perlman has performed many
times with the Houston
Symphony, this was his first
appearance as a soloist.
Perlman is a top-drawing
musician wherever he plays, and
his performance on Wednesday
night with pianist Samuel Sanders
certainly justified his recurrent
praises. The musical collaboration
between the two was well-
orchestrated, and Perlman himself
exhibited his predictably fine
form.
His program ranged through
moments of novelty, seriousness
and humour, encompassing the
rigorous Stravinsky suite Duo
Concertant at the beginning, to a
whole selection of showy, schmaltzy
pieces as an encore, (including
Beethoven's Spring Sonata,
Grieg's Violin Sonata No. 3, and,
among his encore pieces, Kreisler's
Syncopation, which Perlman
characterized as a ragtime from
Vienna).
The freshness of Perlman's
manner was revealed in both the
exuberance of his stage manner
and the joyous informality of the
program's fourth section. "It says
here, 'Selections to be announced
from the stage.' 1 don't know that
piece," Perlman kidded.
The full, rich tone that Perlman
is renowned for flowed around
everything he played, especially
the Grieg C-minor Sonata and the
encore pieces which comprised the
second half of the concert. These
romantic melodies and folklike
tunes brought Sanders' supportive
piano tone to the fore. The musical
blend between Perlman and
Sanders was tastefully coordi-
nated, and the pianist's low-keyed
texture added considerably to
Perlman's performance.
Perlman took up a jaunty style
in the fourth part of the program,
revealing the music's potential for
humor and exuberance. Perhaps
the most memorable piece of the
evening, however, was Beethoven's
Spring Sonata. Perlman and
Sanders gave a particularly tender
performance of this piece,
especially in the opening theme of
the first movement. There Perlman
chose a tone that was more silvery
and lyric than in any of the works
during the second half of the
program, and served to display his
impressive versatility.
— Eden Harrington
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The Ricc Thresher, September 18. 1981. page 7
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Davies, Bruce. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 69, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, September 18, 1981, newspaper, September 18, 1981; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245478/m1/7/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.