This weekend I’m writing notes for a holiday concert that’s being given by CityMusic Cleveland and conductor James Gaffigan. It’s easy to be jaded about such things and all too many holiday/Christmas concerts are a cheesy mix of carols and classical pot boilers. Which is why I’m so impressed by this one.
There will be carols, of course, but they’re encores – I can’t even tell you which ones. The main program, though, is a real gem:
LULLY Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs from Le bourgeois Gentilhomme
ROSSINI La Cenerentola: Overture
GOUNOD Petite symphonie in B flat for wind instruments: Finale (Allegretto)
SIBELIUS Belshazzar's Feast: Suite, Op.51
[INTERMISSION]
BEETHOVEN Turkish March from The Ruins of Athens
CORELLI Concerto grosso in G minor, Op.6 No.8 (Christmas Concerto)
SCHUBERT Rosamunde: Andantino
[the Schubert could be the Entr’acte III or the Ballet II, I’m putting my bets on the entr’acte]
HUMPERDINCK Knusperwalzer from Hänsel und Gretel
Each half begins with a noisy little Turkish march: Oriental exoticism from an era when things Turkish were all the rage (slippers, carpets, delight…). Very festive and exuberant. But also Turkish, Ottoman Turkish. This is the first sign of a not-your-usual holiday concert.
The Oriental thread emerges again in Sibelius’s music for Belshazzar, Prince of Babylon, Old Testament oppressor of the Jews who gets his comeuppance in the most striking way. Rembrandt’s “writing on the wall” is the image that always springs to mind. And there’s another Oriental reference in the second half too. How? It’s superficial, but Rosamunde is the Princess of Cyprus in Helmina von Chézy’s grand romantic drama. (A flop, but the music was a winner.) Von Chézy herself was married to a Parisian Orientalist and she spoke French and Spanish as well as knowing Turkish, Persian and Arabic.
As one of my friends remarked, all this gives the program something of a West-Eastern Divan flavour. And the Oriental thread offers a reminder (if you care to be deep and meaningful about it) that Christian, Muslim and Jew all hark back to Abraham and a shared monotheism.
Hand in hand with the exoticism go the fairytales, and nearly everything’s from the theatre: incidental music or opera. Corelli and Gounod provide the two exceptions. Gounod gives the winds a chance to shine and hints (obliquely) at the wind music tradition of the Christmas pastorale, while Corelli shows off the strings and includes a genuine pastorale.
The amateurs have been playing at programming in recent weeks. This is a program from a young conductor, someone who isn’t just putting together a nicely balanced and interesting concert in isolation but who also has to exploit fixed parameters: the size of the ensemble, the amount of rehearsal time, the strengths of the players, the budget, the nature of the (several) venues, the seasonal timing and theme of the concerts, and the expectations of a “holiday” audience.
One of the things I like most is the way in which he’s undermined some of the repertoire conventions of holiday concerts but retained structural conventions in order to ensure the overall success of the program as a holiday concert. James demonstrates an impressive imagination in this one. It’s charming, vivid and appealing, while avoiding all the usual clichés*. Bravo. In short, it’s a holiday concert that I wouldn’t mind attending. I can’t, alas, but I get to immerse myself in it nonetheless.
* My pet peeves include: highlights from Nutcracker and Messiah (despite both of these being great works that I love), Skater's Waltz, and (looking for nearest exit) the dreadful Sleigh Ride.