Fourth ORCMA music director finalist marches well through time
The Oak Ridge Civic Music Association (ORCMA) is now getting ready for input from the community (and the participants) to help in selecting its new music director. For sure it’s working. The fourth and last candidate, Ian Passmore, presented an excellent concert Sunday afternoon, Nov. 20, at the First United Methodist Church. Maestro Passmore titled his program, “Family Meeting: A Musical Time Machine.” His selections generally did just that – march through time.
He has had an interesting and varied career as a conductor and teacher, accumulating numerous awards along the way. He has held positions with the Omaha Symphony, and guest conducting appearances with many orchestras, including Charlotte, Jacksonville, Lincoln, and even Hanoi (Vietnam).
The initial work on his program was Lloyd Pfautsch’s “Musicks Empire,” an a cappella setting of a 17th century poem by Andrew Marvell, performed beautifully by the women’s sections of the Oak Ridge Chorus.
Then came the march through time, with works by Gabrieli (Instrumental Sonata with a wide dynamic range that was designed to exploit the acoustics of St. Mark’s Basilica), Max Reger (Serenade for Winds), and Elgar (Serenade for Strings). This was a clever way to demonstrate the progressions of musical forms with time, at the same time showing off Passmore’s capability to handle these transitions with ease. It also showed off the versatility and talent of the symphony players, who appeared to be having a good time doing it.
It would be tough to find anyone complaining about this programming’s being too stogie. “Peanuts Gallery,” by Ellen Taaffe Zwillich, featured guest pianist Clare Longendyke. No doubt a first for most of us, with movements for each of the main Peanuts characters. Clearly there’s a “Lament” for Charlie Brown and a “Freak out” for Lucy, etc. Weaving this most versatile and talented pianist in the mix was most entertaining.
We even got a special free piano solo encore - Debussy’s “Fireworks” – an entertaining, but not at all usual Debussy- sounding piece. Education prevailed.
It was surprising to see a Haydn symphony as a grand finale to a program laden with fireworks. Well, it turned out that Haydn’s Symphony No. 88 in G Major literally came to life with Maestro Passmore at the helm. A truly exciting rendition that earned a well-deserved standing ovation.
Watching Passmore having so much fun conducting made me want to go back to the fun I used to have armchair conducting.
This series of four has been hard work, beautifully orchestrated by many behind-the-scenes people that are due many thanks. Specials go to ORCMA’s Executive Director Lisa Muci Eckhoff and Choral Director Brenda Luggie.
Becky Ball is a longtime music reviewer for The Oak Ridger.
This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Fourth ORCMA music director finalist marches well through time
