South Florida Classical Review

Gerard Schwarz conducted the Frost Symphony Orchestra in music of John Corigliano, Charles Tomlinson Griffes and Brahms Saturday night at Gusman Concert Hall.

American music of the past and present took center stage at the opening concert of the centennial season of the Frost Symphony Orchestra under Gerard Schwarz on Saturday night at the University of Miami’s Gusman Concert Hall. The program also featured a tribute to a recently deceased, beloved Frost School of Music faculty member and an exciting traversal of a pillar of the Central European symphonic repertoire.

The composition of classical scores in America did not begin with Copland and Gershwin. In the late nineteenth and first decades of the twentieth century, a budding group of composers, many trained in Europe and based in Boston and New York, attempted to emulate the artistic currents swirling around the continent across the ocean while striving to find a distinctive American voice. 

One of the most gifted of these creative artists was the tragically short-lived Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884-1920). Counting opera composer Engelbert Humperdinck among his teachers and influenced by the impressionism of Debussy and the multi-hued, Asian-tinged scores of Alexander Scriabin, Griffes produced a worthy catalogue of keyboard, chamber, vocal and orchestral works. He sadly succumbed to the worldwide influenza epidemic following World War I at age 35.

Griffes’ tone portrait The White Peacock was once nearly standard repertoire but has disappeared from concert programs. Originally conceived as a piano vignette and orchestrated in 1919, The White Peacock is a sensuous sound tapestry, masterfully conceived and scored. 

Schwarz has always programmed the full spectrum of the nation’s artistic legacy as well as being a proponent of new music. Gleaming solos from flute, clarinet and oboe, buttressed by two harps. entranced at the music’s outset. Schwarz projected the vignette’s hazy ambience, drawing lush string textures and giving supple and transparent attention to minute instrumental details.

The Griffes work was preceded by a beautifully played and eloquently stated reading of “Nimrod” from Elgar’s Enigma Variations and a postlude moment of silence in memory of Professor Robert Carnochan (1963-2024) who died unexpectedly earlier this week. Photos of Carnochan with students and colleagues were projected during the Elgar tribute. The entire concert was dedicated to Carnochan, who was chair of instrumental performance. director of bands and conductor of the Frost Wind Ensemble.

For over five decades, John Corigliano has been one of America’s leading composers. His scores have received repeated performances by orchestras and chamber ensembles across the globe. Corigliano’s Triathlon for saxophone and orchestra is a recent piece, dating from 2022. It is a concerto in everything but name with the extra challenge of utilizing three varieties of the instrument for each of the movements. The work is a worthy contribution to the small number of solo classical works for the instrument that tests the dexterity, technique and skill of the soloist. Timothy McAllister was fully equal to those demands and more.

Tim McAllister performed John Corigliano’s Triathlon with the Frost Symphony Orchestra Saturday night.

The first movement “Leaps” opens with a shriek from the soprano saxophone. Brass and percussion whacks add extra excitement to the rapid pyrotechnics. A somber lyrical section, marked by an evocative melody that suggests the aura of Copland’s Quiet City, provides respite. 

“Lines” spotlights the alto sax in one of those haunting themes Corigliano consistently invents. Here McAllister made the wind instrument sing with a full and effulgent tone. Schwarz drew exquisitely contoured soft playing from the unison strings and huge orchestral climaxes in a more agitated central interlude. 

An extended cadenza opens “Licks,” the concerto’s high-stepping finale for baritone saxophone. McAllister was required to strike the instrument during the lengthy range spanning solo before a clipped motif brought an allusion to the baritone sax’s contribution to jazz ensembles. McAllister’s warmth of sonority remained intact through the fastest passagework. 

At the conclusion, the soloist switched to the soprano sax repeating the initial scream and thematic material in a whirlwind coda. Schwarz brought the dedication and precision he has long lavished on contemporary music, drawing brilliant playing from the large orchestral complement. McAllister received cheers from the full house.

Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 in D Major may be thrice-familiar fare but it emerged newly energetic and exciting under Schwarz’s authoritative leadership. Horns were well balanced in the opening pastoral phrases and the first movement resounded with string momentum. With a wide range of dynamics, the movement flowed organically without ever becoming discursive. A broadly phrased coda formed a prelude to the autumnal glow of the Adagio ma non troppo Burnished cellos gave luster to the principal melody and Schwarz emphasized the deep contrasts in the stormy central episode. 

The conductor captured the bucolic spirit of the Allegretto grzioso with finely integrated winds and crisp strings coming to the fore. The final Allegro con spirito was briskly executed while allowing nobility of line for the secondary subject. Rock solid brass blazed to stunning effect in the coda.

The entire concert displayed the high level of student talent at the Frost School and Schwarz’s inventive programming and ability to inspire the students to exceed their personal best.

Gerard Schwarz conducts the Frost Symphony Orchestra in the world premiere of Dorothy Hindman’s Undefeated, a Suite from Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, 7:30 p.m. October 19 at UM Gusman Concert Hall in Coral Gables. music.miami.edu

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