17 January 2009, Rob Hubbard, Pioneer Press
Review (en)

High contrast

High contrast. That's what you'll find at the collaborative concert being presented at St. Paul's Ordway Center tonight. You could scarcely find two works more disparate than Beethoven's "Emperor" Piano Concerto and Heiner Goebbels' "Songs of Wars I Have Seen." The first is a crowning achievement of the classical era, the latter a challenging modern work receiving its U.S. premiere this weekend. But Friday night's concert — the latest installment in the International Chamber Orchestra Festival the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra is hosting all month — offers such radically different experiences that it ends up being quite satisfying. In both sound and visual presentation, this is a program that might cause you to rethink what you expect from a classical concert. So theatrical and offbeat is Goebbels' piece — performed by members of the London Sinfonietta and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment — that the SPCO seems somewhat square by comparison. But Beethoven was the order of the evening on their half of the concert, with artistic partner Pierre-Laurent Aimard acting as soloist and conductor for one of the most popular of piano concertos. Aimard's interpretation of the "Emperor" wasn't as adventurous as one might wish, but he's still a technically adept player with imaginative interpretive ideas. That said, the rhythm and dynamics proved a bit too insistent and unvarying to draw out the kind of urgency that makes Beethoven so exhilarating. The second half of the concert was given over to Goebbels' piece, and it proved a fascinating work, executed marvelously. The composer takes World War II-era journal entries from author Gertrude Stein and asks the women of the two orchestras to narrate them, weaving the words into a score that touches upon styles ranging from baroque to jazz. Yes, it's a far cry from Beethoven, but it grows increasingly hypnotic and insightful, aided by a lighting scheme that goes from Paris parlor to industrial site. Who: The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra with pianist and conductor Pierre-Laurent Aimard and members of the London Sinfonietta and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with conductor Anu Tali What: Works by Beethoven and Heiner Goebbels When: 8 p.m. today Where: Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, 345 Washington St., St. Paul Tickets: $59-$5, available at 651-291-1144 .... The second half of the concert was given over to Goebbels' piece, and it proved a fascinating work, executed marvelously. The composer takes World War II-era journal entries from author Gertrude Stein and asks the women of the two orchestras to narrate them, weaving the words into a score that touches upon styles ranging from baroque to jazz. Yes, it's a far cry from Beethoven, but it grows increasingly hypnotic and insightful, aided by a lighting scheme that goes from Paris parlor to industrial site.

on: Songs of Wars I have seen (Music Theatre)