The concert of
both familiar and lesser known works was led by guest conductor Hannu Lintu.
In the first half of the program the Grant Park Chorus was showcased in a
performance of The Captive Queen, a cantata for mixed chorus and
orchestra by Jean Sibelius. Also in this half of the evening the soloists
Jonita Lattimore, Susan Platts, and Quinn Kelsey were featured along with the
Chorus and Orchestra in a moving performance of Karol Szymanowskiís
Stabat Mater. The program continued after intermission with Lintu
conducting a sensitive and appropriately energetic reading of Tchaikovskyís
Sixth Symphony.
Both vocal works during the first half of the concert were being performed
for the first time at the Grant Park Festival; indeed both are works that can
be described as worthy of further discovery, here or at other concert venues,
for they are featured infrequently in such programs. In Sibeliusís
Captive Queen the political or national is wedded to both the
dramatic and the lyrical through the media of text and music. Based on verses
by the Finnish poet Cajander, the queen of the title symbolizes the Finnish
language which had been suppressed under Russian domination. In the first of
three parts as set by Sibelius the queen is portrayed as prisoner in a dreary
and near lifeless castle. Ironically, only in the ìcalm of night,î when
no daylight is perceived, can the plaintive song of the queen be heard in
which she laments the loss of beauty and of freedom. Sibelius scored this
part of the ballad, as termed in the Fesitvalís program, for an intricate
sequence of full alternating with female chorus. Under Lintuís direction
the orchestra and mixed chorus established a believable mood of sadness
punctuated by female voices recalling in somber tomes a happier past, when
freedom and hope predominated.
Here the interplay of dramatic and lyric effects by the Grant Park Chorus
was especially poignant, just as it set the tone for the narrative of the
following two parts. At the same time orchestral solos enhanced the message
of a yearning for earlier beauty, strings and flutes standing out especially.
The second and third poetic divisions of the work give details of a wandering
singer, a ìprince of poets,î who heard the queenís lament as he passed
by the castle; the minstrel is inspired to take up his singing again and to
create emotion through poetry. In the third part a hero, armed for action,
arrives to liberate the queen and to begin a new phase of freedom in the life
of the people. As possibilities of hope emerged in these latter two narrative
sections, the Grant Park Orchestra gave an appropriately lush accompaniment
to the chorus, night giving way to morning and to the future.
The eveningís second work, the Stabat Mater of Szymanowski, was
indeed based on the medieval Latin sequence but set by the composer to a
Polish adaptation by Josef Jankowski. Szymanowski worked on the setting
during 1925-26, the piece having its first public performance in 1929. The
soloists in the Grant Park performance stood out for their attention to
textual detail and skill at presenting a unified approach in this
twentieth-century adaptation of an ageless set of motifs. Each singer
fulfilled a demanding vocal part while blending with the others to
communicate a synthesis of religious dignity inherent in the text. After the
slow, almost eerie, beginning in the strings Jonita Lattimore used her voice
to great effect in order to establish the mood of the piece in the first
part. Ms. Lattimoreís voice softened tenderly at the words indicating
ìwhere her Son was hanging,î while her expressive high notes stood out
against a choral background in the text equivalent to the verse ìMother of
the only-begotten Son.î In each of the six parts the soloists interacted
seamlessly both with the chorus and with each other in depicting the Virgin
Motherís sorrow as well as the reaction of those in empathy with her grief.
In the second and fifth parts Quinn Kelseyís flexible baritone described
the emotions of others who could not help but weep together with the Mother
at her loss. While making use of a declamatory effect, Mr. Kelsey maintained
a firm lyrical control, so that his lines remained both supple and highly
dramatic. The mezzo-soprano Susan Platts sang together in alternating parts
with Ms. Lattimore in the third and fourth divisions of the Stabat
Mater. The rich and burnished tones achieved by Ms. Platts lent an
appropriate contrast to the soprano part, and both voices merged effectively
when accompanied by the chorus. In much the same way, the sixth and
concluding part of the work allowed each soloist to give a final plea, upon
individual death, to reach the ìglory of heaven.î Ms. Lattimoreís
heart-rending piano line was varied in equally moving performance by
Ms. Platts and Mr. Kelsey as the piece came to an end.
In contrast to the first half of the program, the Sixth Symphony of
Tchaikovsky has been part of this Festivalís repertoire for some seventy
odd years. In the performance under Hannu Lintu the transitions between
adagio and allegro in the first movement gave a natural and
convincing impression. The effect of small melodic units interweaving and
alternating with the full orchestra suggested a recurrent sense of
melancholy. The middle two movements were led by a light touch where
appropriate with sprightly rhythms punctuated by longer and carefully shaped
phrases. In approaching the well-known finale of the third movement Lintu
paced the orchestra with crisp tempos and growing intensity. The final
movement recalled effectively the melancholic mood of the first part, its
performance giving a sense of closure to both the Symphony and to the
eveningís program.
Salvatore Calomino
image=http://www.operatoday.com/Lattimore.png
image_description=Jonita Lattimore
product=yes
product_title=Jean Sibelius: The Captive Queen
Karol Szymanowski: Stabat Mater
Pyotr Il?yich Tchaikovsky: Symphony no. 6
product_by=Jonita Lattimore, Soprano; Susan Platts, Mezzo Soprano; Quinn Kelsey, Baritone. Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus; Hannu Lintu, Conductor; Christopher Bell, Chorus Director.
product_id=Above: Jonita Lattimore