The Philadelphia Orchestra Commissions

Tan Dun’s Nan Shu spectacular was paired with Behzad Ranjbaran’s flute concerto on Thursday and David Ludwig’s bassoon concerto on Friday; on Saturday evening, the audience heard the flute and bassoon pieces. Leonard Bernstein’s Overture to Candide and the Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances played at all three concerts.

Keeping the customers happy

It was an odd arrangement, but I’m not sure presenting all three pieces on one program would have worked commercially. The presence of Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances on all three programs assured cautious patrons they would hear at least one item they would like.

That may seem like a crass way to look at things, but we shouldn’t forget that most of the people in the audience pay real American dollars for their tickets. If they’re willing to plunk down hard-earned cash to try out a piece of music no one has ever heard, they deserve some assurance that the evening will end with a touch of honest enjoyment.

The three pieces were all commissioned by the orchestra as showcases for specific performers. Principal harpist Elizabeth Hainen played the solo role in Tan Dun’s multi-media symphony; principal flute Jeffrey Khaner soloed in the flute concerto; and principal bassoon Daniel Matsukawa took the spotlight in the bassoon concerto.

When I heard the Tan Dun on Thursday, I was afraid a flute concerto would seem like an anticlimax after a first half that reached such a stunning conclusion. As it turned out, the flute concerto provided a welcome change of scale.

A flute-borne journey

It’s a long work and it would probably benefit from some judicious pruning. Most of the major wind concertos are shorter than concertos for other types of instruments. As it stands, it was a marathon for Jeffrey Khaner and a testament to his ability to maintain interest over a long odyssey.

Behzad Ranjbaran was born in Iran and the concerto is supposed to capture some of the quality of the traditional Iranian bamboo flute. Ranjbaran emphasizes the flowing quality of the flute, especially in the cantabile second movement.

But the soloist is only one partner in a concerto. That long flute line traces its arcs in front of an orchestral background that sounds turbulent and tense. The concerto actually seemed like a somber piece to my ear. When I heard it for a second time on Saturday, the contrast between the lone voice of the flute and the conflicted background seemed even more pronounced.

Sweet, sweet bassoon

David Ludwig’s bassoon concerto, on the other hand, is a charmer. In her program notes, musicologist Eleonora M. Beck notes that the Renaissance forerunner of the bassoon was called the dulcian and sweetness is one of the bassoon’s primary qualities.

Ludwig emphasizes that sweetness throughout his concerto, matching it with some inventive writing for the orchestra. One of his most memorable interludes is a passage in which the soloist plays with two cellos. The lowest voice in the wind section sings with the lowest voice in the string quartet in a trio that exploits the difference between sounds created by blowing and sounds created by bowing.

Ludwig’s concerto is titled Images from the Floating World — a reference to the Japanese woodcut tradition. It’s an evocative title and the concerto’s five sections bear additional titles taken from piano pieces by Debussy that refer to watery scenes. But it would be a mistake to hear the concerto as a descriptive program piece. The titles suggest the general atmosphere created by Ludwig’s score and the musicianship of the soloist.

Will the three commissions acquire permanent places in the repertoire? Who knows? They were all worth hearing and the two concertos added strong contenders to the sparse repertoire for woodwind concertos composed for large orchestras. The ovations from the audience at the two concerts I attended proved, once again, that Philadelphia Orchestra audiences are happy to listen to new music by composers who respect the audience and speak a language they understand.