This weekend's concerts are exactly what the Minnesota Orchestra had in mind when it announced its theme for Summer at Orchestra Hall as "Music in Motion."
Not only is one piece built around a ballet (an Igor Stravinsky suite from "The Firebird"), but another is rooted in the waltzes that once wafted through Vienna, Maurice Ravel's "La Valse." And how about some real live dancing that speaks to modern American life?
BRKFST Dance Company has just the thing. Or at least the Twin Cities-based break-dancing crew did at Friday night's first of two performances of the same program. The six-member troupe created a three-movement dance work to accompany the orchestra's performance of Daniel Bernard Roumain's 2010 piece, "Dancers, Dreamers and Presidents," and it proved the peak of an unceasingly exciting concert.
That would likely be true even if there weren't also a quite impressive performance of Sergei Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" featuring pianist Jon Kimura Parker as soloist. And BRKFST troupe members weren't the only ones dancing, for German conductor Elias Grandy proved a gracefully athletic leader on the podium, coaxing forth strong interpretations of all four pieces.
It was clear the ample audience at Orchestra Hall found it a rewarding experience, for rare is the concert that inspires three standing ovations, or four if you count the couple dozen who stood after the Ravel that launched the evening. And a strong argument could be made for that response, for "La Valse" is a powerful work that leads listeners to believe they're floating into a dream state before it becomes a frightening nightmare. Grandy brought forth both beauty and maximum menace.
After a Mendelssohn concerto last week, Parker's feast of fine piano works continued with the Rachmaninoff Rhapsody, which doesn't travel as satisfying an arc. But that's what you get from a set of 24 variations that each restate a central theme in a different manner. Yet Parker lent shape and some depth to even the briefest of snippets, and he and the orchestra made of the lush and lovely 18th variation a quintessential love fest.
For an encore, Parker continued to show his mastery of varied styles, paying homage to a recently passed member of the technical crew at Orchestra Hall, Jim Pfitzinger, with a tender rendition of Scott Joplin's "Solace."
Roumain's piece is a bold, brassy and not overly complex work that proved a fine soundtrack for BRKFST's inventive work. The troupe makes original modern dance works rooted in the break dancing style that emerged from the early hip-hop scene circa 1980, and this was a thrilling mix of unisons and fugues, the dancers shining in solo settings and clustering to create moving human sculptures. While the fast portions were expertly executed, the most memorable dancing came on a slow second movement that exuded grief and disconnection.
Stravinsky's popular 1919 suite from "The Firebird" almost invariably bears great rewards, but rarely will you experience a performance on which the slowest sections are handled with such care. While principal cellist Anthony Ross delivered some absorbing solos, I was equally enamored with the work of oboist Julie Gramolini Williams and bassoonist J. Christopher Marshall. And principal French horn Michael Gast made the finale's opening theme transcendent, leading listeners onward to the concert's triumphant conclusion.
Minnesota Orchestra
With: Conductor Elias Grandy, pianist Jon Kimura Parker and BRKFST Dance Company
What: Works by Maurice Ravel, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Daniel Bernard Roumain and Igor Stravinsky
When: 8 p.m. Sat.
Where: Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Mpls.
Tickets: $60-$90, available at 612-371-5656 or minnesotaorchestra.org
Rob Hubbard is a Twin Cities classical music writer. Reach him at wordhub@yahoo.com.
