Pacific Symphony opens season with tree-inspired program and Sarah Chang

Review: Carl St.Clair and the Pacific Symphony pair James Newton Howard’s “I Will Plant a Tree” with “The Pines of Rome.” Sarah Chang plays the Mendelssohn concerto. The Orange County Register, Sept. 23, 2011.

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classical music, reviews

Carl St.Clair, Pacific Symphony, Sarah Chang

September 23, 2011

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CK Dexter Haven

Where’s a John Williams bassoon concerto when you need one to round out the theme (or perhaps to beat it into the ground), to add another film composer, and to provide a reprieve from another performance of the wonderful but overplayed Mendelssohn.

Thanks for the descriptive AND appropriate description of the soloists choice of wardrobe. (Yeah, that’s right, I went there).

And if I can count correctly, that makes three classical music articles in the OC Register in a single week!! Perhaps that bodes well for the future . . .

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September 23, 2011 10:48 pm
- tmangan
  
  I was thinking about some of the other pieces they could have played, given the “tree” theme. How about Bartok’s “The Wooden Prince”? Or Steve Reich’s “Music for Pieces of Wood”? Or some arias from Joplin’s “Treemonisha” or Verdi’s “Macbeth”? (You know, when an entire forest walks up to him.) And then there’s Dvorak’s “Cypresses.”
  
  As for the three articles at the OCR … just a little flurry of activity at the beginning of the season. I hope to do about one a week from here on in.
  
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  September 24, 2011 9:58 am
chris

The irony here being that the Pines of Rome is really not about trees. It’s a piece about places in and around Rome that happen to have pine trees there.

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September 24, 2011 11:57 am
- tmangan
  
  True enough, Chris, but presumably the pines add a special something to the places Respighi describes in his music.
  
  btw, “I Will Plant a Tree” is not really about a tree, either, not directly. It’s about the idea of planting a tree, even when there doesn’t seem to be hope. As said, it was inspired by a quote from Martin Luther.
  
  Another tree piece: “Sequoia” by Joan Tower. That one really is about a tree.
  
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  September 24, 2011 5:47 pm
  - MarK
    
    How about “Paper Concerto” by Tan Dun (made of trees, isn’t it?)?
    And of course there is “Forest Murmurs” by Richard Wagner.
    In his Fourth Symphony, Pyotr Tchaikovsky used Russian folk song about a “Lonely Birch” in the final movement.
    There – that’s a program for a full concert!
    
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    September 25, 2011 11:54 am
CK Dexter Haven

I thought “Sequoia” was about an SUV. You learn something new every day.

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September 24, 2011 6:53 pm
Kate

The performance was absolutely amazing. It’s a shame that there is nowhere to buy the piece online. Or even just listen to it. Pacific Symphony did a wonderful job presenting it. There was one part however reminded me of the 500 Days of Summer Soundtrack. Odd. I know. But it did. Overall, it is absolutely fantastic. Hope to find it online soon.

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September 25, 2011 2:51 pm