The Jerusalem Symphony's WWII Refrain
Leon Botstein leads the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.
(By Steve Sherman)
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Music from the time of World War II took center stage Monday night at the Music Center at Strathmore.
Leon Botstein and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra opened with Bohuslav Martinu's "Pamatnik Lidicim" ("Memorial to Lidice"), commemorating the Nazi annihilation of the village in 1942 after the Czech assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the brutal imperial governor. The searing agony of the opening C minor and C-sharp minor chords progressed gradually toward hope, represented by the first four notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (the "V for Victory" motto) and a peaceful conclusion in C major. The orchestra's playing here was nuanced and heartfelt.
Prokofiev's intense Symphony No. 5 (1944) was less successful, although the orchestra made up in enthusiasm what it lacked in precision. A choppy first movement was followed by a briskly energetic scherzo marred by some trumpet troubles. There was little lyricism in the third movement, and the fourth was not started attacca , so the musical flow dissipated (a problem worsened by audience applause between movements). Still, the finale was well played, with a rousing, triumphant coda.
Copland's "Appalachian Spring" provided a sunny interlude between the two darker works. This, too, is wartime music, from 1944, but its pastoral simplicity seemed worlds away from battle. The opening was positively ethereal, the fast sections bright-hued, but the slower ones tended to drag.
The most relaxed playing and best orchestral balance of the evening came in two encores, the Coronation March from Meyerbeer's "Le Prophete" and Shostakovich's amusing 1928 variations on "Tea for Two." How about a Jerusalem Symphony pops concert?
-- Mark J. Estren
