Organ and Orchestra by the American Symphony Orchestra

American Symphony Orchestra at St. Bartholomew's Church. Photo by Edward Kliszus
American Symphony Orchestra at St. Bartholomew's Church. Photo by Edward Kliszus
Rating
4.7/5

Tonight’s concert was entitled Organ and Orchestra by the American Symphony Orchestra! St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church on Park Ave in New York City was the apposite venue for Maestro Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra. They performed two works incorporating the rich sounds of the marvelous Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ with organist Paolo Bordignon, the Bard Festival Chorale directed by James Bagwell, and vocal soloists Soprano Anya Matanovič, Mezzo-soprano Eve Gigliotti, Tenor Joshua Blue, and Bass Adam Lau.

Famed conductor Leopold Stokowski began his illustrious musical career at St. Barts as an organist, conductor, and choir director. Here, in 1962, he founded and directed the American Symphony Orchestra. The cathedral’s nonpareil acoustics facilitated crisp instruments and vocal parts delineation with a glorious cathedral resonance. Instrumental shades and subtleties were remarkably portrayed and ensured clarity from rapturous pathos to musical pyrotechnics.

Maestro Leon Botstein with the American Symphony Orchestra at St. Bartholomew Church. Photo by Edward Kliszus

Maestro Leon Botstein with the American Symphony Orchestra at St. Bartholomew’s Church. Photo by Edward Kliszus

The program opened with Camille Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3 in C minor “Organ” (1886). When the organ spoke at the first poco adagio along with lush strings and harmonies, the amalgam of sound was exquisitely sublime, inspiring reverence and spirituality from Saint-Saëns’ melodic prose. Saint-Saëns was an exponent of purity, clarity, refinement, and Classicism, whom Franz Liszt considered the most excellent organist of his time. Admitting his eclecticism, Saint-Saëns dabbled in astronomy, lepidoptery, geology, poetry, and occult sciences. He said of his music, “I am after the chimera of purity of style and perfection of form.” We discovered these tenets in this work, as the Orchestra confirmed through its elegant delivery. From the final Stringendo to the closing bar, the ensemble propelled the work’s breathtaking, passionate afflatus to a dramatic culmination, audience approbation, and standing ovation.

After intermission, the Orchestra and organist joined the Bard Festival Chorale and tonight’s vocal soloists for Dame Ethel Smyth’s Mass in D (1891). A contemporary of England’s Sir Edward Elgar, Smyth is considered England’s greatest woman composer. She studied in Germany and was encouraged by musical luminaries like Edvard Grieg, Johannes Brahms, Clara Schumann, and violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim.

Upon hearing Smyth’s Mass in D (1891), critic George Bernard Shaw noted in his usual Shavian manner that “she writes indiscriminately, with the faith of a child and orthodoxy of a lady…” One may sense the innocence and psyche to which Shaw refers, and while the work might be attributed to lighter church music literature, it is not frivolous. The Mass indeed lies in the artistic sphere of the well-acclaimed Gabriel Faure’s Requiem or Francis Poulenc’s Gloria, and its inspiration is palpable.

The reactions to the Mass of many seated nearby consisted of softly audible orisons and approbations. One can draw spirituality from the Mass’s soaring, choric beauty, well performed by the distinguished Bard Festival Chorale in this astounding space. A listener might characterize parts of the work as products of musical phylogeny traced from a counter-reformation composer like Thomas Tallis to Smyth, but with the chromatic fluidity of the late 19th century at her disposal.

Smyth’s Mass utilized the tenor soloist continually, with lesser but critical roles assigned to the three other parts. Tenor Joshua Blue met the challenge with aplomb and brilliance. Soprano Anya Matanovič provided soaring, inspired intones while mezzo-Soprano Eve Gigliotti captured the rich inferences from the liturgical text. Bass Adam Lau contributed with commanding brilliance and power. When the four performed as a quartet with the full Chorale, Orchestra, and Organ, they helped achieve astounding aural beauty and devotional rapture.

Maestro Botstein conducted with depth, confidence, precision, and mastery, guiding the ensembles and soloists to ensure the right mix of ebullience and politesse demanded. Program notes were excellent and included the full liturgical Latin text with translations.

Organ and Orchestra by the American Symphony Orchestra

Leon Botstein, Music Director, and Conductor
Bard Festival Chorale, directed by James Bagwell
Paolo Bordignon, Organ
Anya Matanovič, Soprano
Eve Gigliotti, Mezzo-soprano
Joshua Blue, Tenor
Adam Lau, Bass

St. Bartholomew’s Church
325 Park Avenue
New York NY  10022
contact@mmpaf.org

St. Barts’s 2022-23 season continues with Lenten Organ Recitals, the first on March 5 featuring Paolo Bordignon and on March 19 featuring Alexander Pattavina. For information and tickets for the entire remaining season, go to MMPAF.ORG.

American Symphony Orchestra
1330 Avenue of the Americas
Suite 23A
New York NY 10019
212-868-9276
info@americansymphony.org
For tickets and information, go to https://americansymphony.org/current-season/

Readers may also enjoy our reviews of The Players Present the 2nd Annual Artists Exhibition, Musica Sacra at Carnegie Hall, The Orchestra Now at Symphony Space, and The New Jersey Ballet at the Mayo Arts Center.

Organ and Orchestra by the American Symphony Orchestra

PLEASE COMMENT & SIGN UP

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

More to explore...

The home of Electric Lemon at 33 Hudson Yards, New York NY. Photo by Sora Vernikoff

Electric Lemon at Hudson Yards

The Electric Lemon restaurant is located at the top of the five-star Equinox Hotel in Hudson Yards. The rooftop bar boasts an 8,000-square-foot rooftop garden with a monumental Jaume Plensa sculpture. It overlooks the Hudson River and the city skyline. They possess a wide range of food and drinks, from light bites to seasonal offerings at dinner and rooftop brunch on the weekends. It’s open all year round because of the sleek and expansive dining room and fire-pits on the al fresco terrace.

Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Photo from the official trailer. Public Domain

Breakfast at Tiffany’s

I suppose that the title of my blog post, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, is a little misleading because it turned out to be Dinner at Tiffany’s, or more accurately, Dinner at the Blue Box Café. This Cafe honors the romance of the 1961 film starring Audrey Hepburn. Tiffany’s of course was the romantic setting where the lovely Audrey Hepburn went each morning with a pastry and cup of coffee to have breakfast as she window shopped. You might add Breakfast at Tiffany’s to your movie viewing list if you’ve missed it. The song Moon River will have new meaning for you!

Josie de Guzman at The Green Room 42. Photo by Edward Kliszus

Josie de Guzman at The Green Room 42

Two-time Tony Award nominee Josie de Guzman performed her show “Back Where I Started” and enthralled listeners at The Green Room 42.The enchanting and vivacious de Guzman performed a musical biopic of her remarkable stage career. She spoke of the many fellow luminaries with whom she performed and collaborated. The amazing list includes Leonard Bernstein, Nathan Lane, Arthur Laurents, Jerome Robbins, Alan Jay Lerner, and Burton Lane, to name a few.

0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x