Norwalk Symphony at intersection of traditions

Jeffrey Johnson

NORWALK -- The Norwalk Symphony continued its 2011-2012 season with a performance at Norwalk Concert Hall named "Wintertime Jazz." The program was dedicated to an exploration of the influences of the jazz tradition on composers writing classical music in the 1920s.

The event opened with a collection of songs performed by Thomas Young.

Young, a tenor, has performed with Tito Puente and Roger Norrington; played at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and sung with New York City Opera. He inhabits both traditions and it was a pleasure to hear him in Norwalk.

Young began with "A Time for Love" by Johnny Mandel accompanied from the piano by Jonathan Yates, the new music director of the Norwalk Symphony, who accompanied with sensitive lyricism that supported the voice and helped carry the line with a clear rhythmic underpinning. Young closed with three Gershwin songs ("Embraceable You," "Someone to Watch Over Me," and "I've Got Rhythm") accompanied by the orchestra.

Young had a uniquely identifiable ease in his sound that allowed the atmosphere of each song to unfold. He articulated the text in a way that made the narrative jump. When he sang of "a time for summer skies," it seemed that everyone in the hall warmed up.

To close the first half of the program we heard "La Creation du Monde" by Darius Milhaud. Saxophonist Eliot Gattegno played the extensive solo within in this concerto with a sound that came from deep within the ensemble. He found the edges of blending so the opening tune seemed to emerge from the colors of the ensemble. The orchestra also took care to balance the unusual ensembles this work revels in, such as the slow-motion passage in which the solo flute plays an extended quotation of the tune from the opening overture, while the solo cello plays an augmentation of the jazz fugue subject. Both lines came across as equals.

The orchestra also played with blinding energy during the dance band culmination in which trumpets and trombones lit the house.

After intermission the audience heard "Suite No. 1 for Jazz Orchestra" by Shostakovich. The suite consists of three movements: Waltz, Polka and Foxtrot.

"Are most of you familiar with the music of Shostakovich," Yates asked from the stage, "is the word `charming' one you would normally use to describe it?"

There were chuckles from all corners of the hall, but all three of these dances were charming.

The suite featured a pedal steel guitar solo accompanied by slide trombone. Guitarist Marc Wolf played the solo and accompanied the rest of the suite using a banjo.

The evening closed with the inevitable "Rhapsody in Blue" by Gershwin.

Yates conducted from the keyboard, which is no simple task. The orchestra played the original dance band orchestration (not the later arrangement for large orchestra that is more familiar to most listeners). The dance band version sounded fresh, and the Norwalk Symphony played its rhythms with sharp edges and voiced its ensembles with bright, richly clanging colors. It was an effective close to an evening of lively and vibrant music.

Jeffrey Johnson is a professor of music at the University of Bridgeport and a published author who has written books on music for Dover Publications and Greenwood Press. He can be reached at jjohnson@bridgeport.edu

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