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PSO broadens repertory
Sunday, February 06, 2000 By Andrew Druckenbrod, Post-Gazette Classical Music Writer
Next season, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will spend a night at the opera. Or, rather, it will become one when the orchestra premieres a fully staged concert version of Andre Previn's "A Streetcar Named Desire," with Previn himself conducting.
That performance - and the reappearance of another former music director, Lorin Maazel, to celebrate his 70th birthday - headlines the PSO's newly announced 2000-2001 season.
This marks the third season planned by Music Director Mariss Jansons, and it shows a continued emphasis on broadening repertory. To aid in his efforts, Jansons has again assembled top-notch guests, many of whom he has worked with before in some capacity.
"This is his season," Managing Director Gideon Toeplitz says of Jansons. "There was a learning curve. He had to learn first who works well here, who doesn't, who he likes, who we like." It wasn't until this season that Jansons really got a feel for the city and for the orchestra. The 2000-01 season, Toeplitz hopes, will show Jansons' finger is securely on the pulse of both.
Far from being a tyrannical director, Jansons, who had the flu and was unavailable for comment, is looking to achieve a balance between his desires for repertory and performers, and what his audience and musicians will like. "What we are really trying to do is extend repertory without stepping on sensitive toes," Toeplitz says. Moving in new works, especially newly written ones, is a necessary process for any symphony. Next season will contain 26 subscription premieres, a mix of old and new compositions, to go with some warhorses.
"What you see is the most diverse repertory season that we have put together in years and years," says Toeplitz.
Indeed, the expected amount of Romantic-era or older works is balanced by approximately the same number of 20th-century works. There are world premieres by Samuel Adler and by Augusta Read Thomas, as well as works from giants of the last century - Bartok, Copland, Debussy, Hindemith and Ravel. Though much of the reason for the addition of so many works is due to Jansons' desire to expand the PSO's repertoire, Toeplitz puts it in perspective.
"There's much more varied repertory from the 20th century now than 30 years ago," he says, mean- ing that there are more good works to choose from. "In the 1970s, we only had 70 years [of the 20th century], and now we have 100 years. It's simple arithmetic."
In other words, the PSO will eventually get to the newer music.
"Time has been marching on," says Toeplitz. "If you pick 1970 and go 100 years back - that's 1870 - how much music of the late 19th century were we doing in 1970?"
The answer, of course, is a lot. Jansons feels the time is ripe for letting go of some of that in favor of newer - and new-to-Pittsburgh - music. Conspicuously absent are twelve-tone and atonal works. "We skipped a chunk of the 20th century," says Toeplitz. "Few [conductors and performers] want to do this music." Plus, it's no secret that a majority of the more prolific twelve-tone composers have never caught on with audiences. "If you go back to Milton Babbitt or Roger Sessions, Elliott Carter, even though their music is further in the past, it will still take a long time for people to really sort out that they want to listen to it, if ever."
Lest all this talk of new, or even simply newer music, worry subscribers, Toeplitz says don't fret. The orchestra isn't abandoning the three Bs or anything like that. "Brahms symphonies will remain, Beethoven symphonies will remain, Mozart symphonies will remain - a lot of stuff will remain," says Toeplitz. Backing this assertion up are two big ninth symphonies, Beethoven's and Mahler's.
Moreover, Toeplitz explains that some of the philosophy for augmenting the repertory came straight from something familiar to most subscribers: the "Musical Mysterypiece" feature of the PSO's 1997-98 season. "We are taking the same idea and expanding on it," says Toeplitz. Jansons programmed several works falling into one of two categories: either relatively unknown music by a famous composer or good music by a relatively unknown composer.
This time around, however, he isn't hiding the music behind a veil. "We're taking the mystery out of it," says Toeplitz. Some of these works are Paul Dukas' Symphony in C major, Carl Nielsen's Symphony No. 5 and Arvo Part's "Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten."
The new season also will see the return of some of the PSO's favorite performers. "There's a group which we try to bring back every year," says Toeplitz. Not only does the orchestra trust the musicianship of these musicians, which includes pianists Radu Lupu, Yefim Bronfman and Emanuel Ax, violinists Pamela Frank and Hilary Hahn and conductors James Conlon, and Pinchas Zukerman. But they connect well with an audience that is familiar with them. "It's like Bronfman now. Whenever he comes, whatever he does, people come," says Toeplitz.
This "return policy" applies to previous musical directors, too. Jansons has made it a point to continue an artistic relationship with his predecessors. Previn, music director from 1976-1984, has appeared many times, and will conduct Mahler's Symphony No. 9 next season in addition to "Streetcar." But the upcoming season also sees the return of Lorin Maazel after a five-year absence. The boss from 1984-1996, Maazel returns to conduct a one-night-only special benefit performance that honors him on his 70th birthday.
"The day Mariss accepted the music directorship here, the first thing he did was send a letter to Maazel asking him to come back," says Toeplitz. "It took a while to get an answer - he was very busy - but finally he agreed to come for one concert." But this is no token showing. Toeplitz says Maazel will make additional appearances down the line, indicating a truly renewed relationship.
So what of "Streetcar"? The PSO's production of the 1998 opera based on Tennessee Williams' play will lie somewhere in between a full-blown opera and a strict concert version. The orchestra will be onstage, but there will be scenery and costumed singers acting out scenes. "There is critical element to the play that has to do with the fact that there are two levels - two stories - in this house," says Toeplitz. "So there will be two levels. But what we will be doing is using slide projections, projecting scenery in the back." The cast's experience should help fill in the remaining gaps. Three of the soloists sang in the opera's world premiere at San Francisco Opera.
Toeplitz says Jansons is excited to have "Streetcar" on the schedule, but it's not a permanent step in this direction. "The reason we're doing it is not because we want to get into the opera business," says Toeplitz. It's because of the PSO's relationship with Previn - the orchestra talked about performing the opera even as he was working on it - and the strength of the play itself.
In addition to the Maazel celebration, the PSO will honor Gunther Schuller on his 75th birthday with the composer's "Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee." The ensemble also will perform works as part of the Copland 2000 celebration.
Seven performers make their PSO debut in the 2000-2001 season. Three of them, sopranos Peggy Kriha Dye and Sheryl Woods and baritone David Okerlund, appear in "Streetcar." Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes performs Schumann's Piano Concerto. Willie Stargell - yes the Pirates great - narrates Copland's "Lincoln Portrait." Bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff sings Mozart concert and opera arias. Soprano Luana DeVol performs in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, "Choral."
There are plenty of big names and essential artists coming back to Heinz Hall: violinists Frank, Hahn Vladimir Spivakov and Frank Peter Zimmermann; pianists Ax, Bronfman, Vladimir Feltsman and Lupu; percussionist Evelyn Glennie; tenor Anthony Dean Griffey; and bass John Relyea. Several PSO musicians will solo as well: Andres Cardenes, violin; Randolph Kelly, viola; Peter Sullivan, trombone; Gretchen Van Hoesen, harp; and Michael Rusinek, clarinet.
Two conductors will be new to Heinz Hall next year - Paavo Jarvi and Ingo Metzmacher. Returning podium-perchers are Matthias Bamert, Conlon, Andreas Delfs, Hans Graf, Marek Janowski, David Zinman, Zukerman.
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