Review: Latest HSO Masterworks features Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn, birds and woodblock

At Friday’s first performance of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s “Mendelssohn Taking Flight” concert, guest conductor Alexandrea Arrieche failed to note that the order of the program had been changed. It wasn’t a major oversight on her part: the program was correctly listed in the barcode-scanned online program most people use at the symphony, and it’s clear that many concertgoers don’t consult the program notes at all anyway. But the first and second halves were reversed from what was listed in the hard-copy programs (printed months ago), and at intermission there was a degree of bewilderment and indignation in the audience.

According to the print program, the first piece played was meant to be “Overture” by Fanny Mendelssohn, the talented sister of Felix Mendelssohn whose work went largely unnoticed in her own time. The confusion for those who read the printed program was unfortunate, but led to a few moments of wondrous dreamlike indulgence: could a piece written by a woman in 1830 have conjured such a purposefully jarring relationship among strings, horns and woodblocks?

No, of course not. That very contemporary percussive perspective came from “Elegia Andina,” a piece written by a Californian woman, Gabriela Lena Frank, in 2000. Her elegy to the Andean mountains (one of several works Frank has composed that were inspired by that area) explores her own multiculturalism. It is dedicated to Frank’s brother; their father is of Lithuanian-Jewish heritage and their mother Chinese-Peruvian-Spanish. The work blends strong conventional classical themes with folk melodies and those incessant woodblocks. It’s ominous and urgent and Arrieche knows just how to conduct it so it stays cryptic and compelling through its 11-minute length.

When Fanny Mendelssohn’s “Overture” arrived in the second half of the concert on Friday (clearly introduced this time by Arrieche) it may not have been the modernist eye-opener some had been briefly misled into thinking it was, but it certainly didn’t disappoint.

“Overture” is not the style most associated with Fanny Mendelsohn. She’s better known for her piano sonatas and string quartets. “Overture” doesn’t even make the cut for her “Essentials” playlist on Apple Music. But orchestras love it, and sadly it’s one of the few pieces she wrote for orchestras. It’s not even an overture for anything, just a standalone piece that announces only itself. It’s full of ideas and challenges that demand the ensemble and conductor’s full concentration. The cellos rumble a single note while the rest of the players gently adhere to that note and build around it, with both harmony and reverberation. There are cascades of notes that could change their meaning on a whim if not carefully controlled. The meaning is generally a sense of beauty and enchantment.

Fanny’s younger brother Felix Mendelssohn, the sibling who was allowed to turn musical composition into a full-time profession, is also on the “Mendelssohn Takes Flight” bill, and happily it’s not with his overplayed “Midsummer Night’s Dream” music. This time it’s his workout for a strong soloist, “Violin Concerto in E minor.” It’s played here by the violin prodigy Adé Williams, who played her first public concert at the age of 6 and now in her mid-20s has won a slew of international violin or chamber music competitions. Williams has memorized all the nuances of this challenging work, whose emotional impact ranges from euphoria to despair.

While a dazzling blur of technical virtuosity, it seems impossible for any performer to convey all the various feelings in this complex work honestly. At one point, Williams sharply slapped the violin with her bow, but instead of it coming off stark or raw or angry her expression seemed to say “look at me doing something transgressive with my violin.” The HSO’s own ace violinist, concertmaster Leonid Sigal, would’ve handled that moment differently. At other times, especially with some dizzying fast-fingered moments at the finale, Williams was more engagingly passionate. On Friday, thunderous ovations brought her back to the stage for multiple bows, and a hug from the conductor.

Also on the program was Resphigi “Gli uccelli” (“The Birds”), which devotes each movement to a different avian character: dove, hen, nightingale and cuckoo. The 1927 composition is simultaneously based on the styles of several different 17th century composers. This is not one of those classical pieces that attempts to closely replicate the sounds of nature, though there are indeed a few chirping flutes. Resphigi (who is as well known for his ballets and operas as for his orchestral works) seems to be more intrigued by how both birds and Baroque composers found order in things. “The Birds” has processions, pageantry, repeated themes, sustained notes that bridge disparate elements, squeaky sounds, cartoon noises and, at times, such wild bass sounds that some modern rock band should consider adapting “The Birds” for electric instruments.

This is a concert of great imagination. The experimental, progressive and modernist elements do not hit you over the head (not even with the woodblock) but they are in there and they bring bursts of excitement to an evening that is also just about skilled musicianship. As a conductor, Arrieche has worked with many pop acts (from Brian Ferry to Earth Wind and Fire) through her involvement with the international Night of the Proms live concert series and has brought that open-minded musical spirit to her 2021 podcast series “Beethoven Was a Rock Star.” While this Mendelssohn-studded HSO concert is in no way an advancement of Arrieche’s beliefs in musical crossover potentials, she brings a spirited curiosity to whatever she conducts, and the female composers on the bill here are in particular good hands with her.

Before the concert began, Hartford Symphony Orchestra musicians stood in solidarity and made a public plea for “fair wages and working conditions.” The musicians have been in contract negotiations for nearly a year.

“Mendelssohn Takes Flight” is performed through May 14 at The Belding Theater in The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford. Remaining performances are May 13 at 8 p.m. and May 14 at 3 p.m. $35.50-$68.50. hartfordsymphony.org.