In Wednesday’s (5/11) Wall Street Journal, Barbara Jepson writes, “Orchestras in North America are in a period of soul-searching. … ‘Spring for Music,’ an intriguing new festival that continues at Carnegie Hall through Saturday, offers no panaceas … But in its structure and concept, ‘Spring for Music’ shows what can happen when industry insiders act creatively. The festival is presenting seven North American orchestras chosen, from 25 applicants, for their imaginative programming habits. … Most of the concert offerings assembled by the orchestras are truly inventive, forging intriguing thematic links or presenting works considered dicey at the box office. On Wednesday, the Dallas Symphony will give the New York premiere of ‘August 4, 1964’ for chorus, soloists and orchestra, a 70-minute concert drama by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Steven Stucky. The piece revisits two fateful events during the Lyndon Johnson presidency—one affecting the civil-rights movement, the other, the Vietnam War. On Thursday, the 76-member Oregon Symphony will make its Carnegie debut with an intelligently conceived, war-themed program of John Adams, Benjamin Britten, Charles Ives and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Subsequent performances by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the 92-member Montreal Symphony Orchestra should prove equally stimulating.”
Photo by Jeff Goldberg
Posted May 11, 2011
