November 22 & 23, 2024
Belk Theatre at Blumenthal Arts
Charlotte, NC – USA
Charlotte Symphony Orchestra; Kwamé Ryan, conductor; Janai Brugger, soprano; Alexander Birch Elliott, baritone; Charlotte Master Chorale.
Peteris VASKS: Musica Dolorosa
Johannes BRAHMS: A German Requiem
Paul Hyde | 18 DEC 2024
In his first concert as the new music director of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Kwamé Ryan conducted a warm, well-shaped, and spirited account of Johannes Brahms’ A German Requiem, featuring the Charlotte Master Chorale.
It made a listener look forward to what the future holds for the orchestra under Ryan’s assured leadership.
I was surprised, however, that Ryan chose a requiem for his debut concert — a work more solemn than celebratory. (George Bernard Shaw, the witty patron saint — or patron demon — of music critics, remarked that no vigorously alive audience should spend extended time in the concert hall with a mass for the dead.) Equally eye-opening is that Ryan began the program with Peteris Vasks’ Musica Doloroso, a work expressive of hopelessness and emotional pain under Soviet domination.
Then again, Brahms’ Requiem is a work of profound consolation, a requiem not so much for the dead as for those left behind. It opens with words from Matthew: “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” So perhaps a work of consolation was exactly what a Charlotte audience needed to hear in these divisive times.
Born in Toronto to parents from Trinidad and Tobago who were studying there, Ryan moved to Uganda with his parents as a baby and spent most of his youth in Trinidad. He decided to become a musician after seeing Star Wars in 1977 and hearing John Williams’ score.
Ryan succeeded Christopher Warren-Green, who stepped down after the 2021-22 season, his 12th as music director.
I was puzzled, however, that Ryan is scheduled to conduct only one other Charlotte Symphony program this season, on March 7 and 8.
A new music director creates expectations that they will spend considerable time in a city, not only working with the orchestra but building a strong relationship with the community.
A modern conductor is the public face of the orchestra, perhaps like a head coach, leading the musical team and establishing a vision. When Ryan’s four-year contract was announced in December 2023, the Charlotte Symphony said Ryan would devote 10-12 weeks per season to the orchestra.
L-R, front: Janai Brugger, Kwamé Ryan, and baritone Alexander Birch Elliott. (courtesy of Charlotte Symphony Orchestra)
However, Ryan, 54, is in high demand elsewhere as a conductor, so his time for Charlotte right now is limited. Even his debut with the orchestra as music director occurred not at the beginning of the season but closer to the midpoint. Ideally, a new music director would conduct the opening concert of their debut season to generate excitement and set a distinctive tone for a new era.
According to Charlotte Symphony officials, Ryan plans to be more actively engaged with the orchestra in the 2025-26 season.
Major orchestras often avoid the scheduling difficulties of an overbooked conductor by appointing music directors far in advance of their actual tenures. A long engagement, in other words, precedes the actual marriage. The Chicago Symphony, for instance, recently named Klaus Mäkelä as its new music director a full three years before his tenure is to begin. Until then, Mäkelä will visit the orchestra occasionally as music director-designate.
Similarly, superstar conductor Gustavo Dudamel, currently music and artistic director of the Los Angles Philharmonic, was appointed to lead the New York Philharmonic three years before his directorship begins.
By contrast, Ryan’s appointment was announced less than a year before the start of his music directorship. That appears to have left Ryan little flexibility to commit to the previously announced 10 to 12 weeks in Charlotte this season. Perhaps Ryan should have served a few years as music director-designate before taking on the full appointment.
Ryan’s upcoming program in March, with Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (Louis Schwizgebel, piano) and Respighi’s Roman Festivals, actually seems more appropriate for a new music director’s dazzling debut, even creating a space for an encore.
That said, Brahms’ Requiem was splendidly performed on November 22.
Brahms was likely inspired to write the seven-movement Requiem by his mother’s death in 1865. Robert Schumann’s passing in 1856 also likely played a role in the work’s composition.
Contemporary Latvian composer Peteris Vasks’ Musica Dolorosa for string orchestra served as an introduction to the Brahms Requiem. Musica Dolorosa is a striking piece that begins mournfully and slowly evolves into a full-throated expression of terror and despair. Vasks has mentioned two inspirations for the piece: the untimely death of his sister and the oppressive atmosphere of the Soviet domination of his country in 1984. Vasks said of the piece, “This is my most tragic opus, the only one in which there is no optimism and no hope, only pain.”
It is a remarkable, searing work, but it seems a curious choice for a music director’s debut. Ryan made the unusual decision to proceed directly from Musical Dolorosa into Brahms’ Requiem.
The opening measures of the Requiem were beautifully played by the Charlotte Symphony and exquisitely phrased by the Charlotte Master Chorale. The stormy second movement was delivered with appropriate force, though one might have wished for a bit more thunderous timpani at times.
The fourth movement, the best-known of the Requiem, “How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place,” was lustrously and poignantly sung. Ryan’s tempos seemed fairly standard, not noticeably fast or slow. The orchestra responded marvelously to his lyrical conducting style.
L-R, front: Kenney Potter, Janai Brugger, Kwamé Ryan, and Alexander Birch Elliott take a bow with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and Charlotte Master Chorale. (courtesy of Charlotte Symphony Orchestra)
The Requiem is quite a workout for the chorus. The Charlotte Master Chorale, under the direction of Kenney Potter, is clearly a superb ensemble, with admirable heft and musicality, though a bit short on tenors. An imitative passage in the Requiem where tenors follow sopranos exposed this weakness. (That, of course, is a perennial problem for any chorus. An old joke is that departed tenors are often admitted to heaven right away because they’re needed for the celestial choir.)
The soloists were excellent. Janai Brugger brought an opulent soprano to Brahms’ extended solo. Alexander Birch Elliott was the baritone soloist, displaying a focused and resonant voice.
At the ethereal conclusion of the work, the audience remained in respectful silence for several seconds before applauding. That rare act was beautiful to behold.
The projected supertitles for the Brahms’ Requiem, an English translation of the German text, were a welcome addition. Less pleasing was the one sheet of paper given out in lieu of a program. The sheet offered a QR code linked to a digital program book, though I miss a well-designed and informative program one can hold in hand.
A fine orchestra like the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra deserves a fine program book. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Charlotte Symphony Orchestra: charlottesymphony.org
- Kwamé Ryan: kwameryan.com
- Janai Brugger: janaibrugger.com
- Alexander Birch Elliott: alexanderbirchelliott.com
Read more by Paul Hyde.
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