Principal bassoon Fei Xie has a chance to shine with the Minnesota Orchestra, performing a concerto by 20th century French composer André Jolivet in a program that also features selections from Wynton Marsalis’ gorgeous “Blues Symphony,” and a symphony by Romanian composer George Enescu from the turn of the 20th century.
Minnesota Orchestra principal bassoon Fei Xie will perform “Jolivet” with the orchestra at Orchestra Hall on June 5-6, 2025. (Aoe Prinds / Minnesota Orchestra)
Conducting the concert is the Grammy-award winning Cristian Măcelaru, who attended graduate school with Xie at Rice University in Texas 20 years ago. Speaking with host Ariana Kim before the performance, Măcelaru said that while they were in school, he and Xie made a commitment to each other that they’d perform the Jolivet concerto together one day. “The Jolivet is one of those unicorns in the bassoon repertoire, because it’s so challenging and so difficult,” Măcelaru said.
Măcelaru also has a friendship with Wynton Marsalis, whom the conductor often selects in programming. “I so believe in his genius and in his artistry,” he said.
Starting off the program, the orchestra performs “Swimming in Sorrow” and “Danzón y Mambo, Choro y Samba” from Marsalis’ “Blues Symphony.” It’s an epic work that infuses a New Orleans sound into an orchestral statement. “Swimming in Sorrow” evokes the stormy seas of the middle passage, where enslaved people were transported in chains across the Atlantic ocean.
Cymbals and other percussive instruments create the sound of thunder and waves lapping against the ship, while the music ebbs and flows like the tumultuous sea. Principal trumpet R. Douglas Wright’s solo brings a melancholy blues feeling to the movement, while another solo performed by principal clarinet Gabriel Campos Zamora recalls the clarinet part in Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”
After a pause, the movement moves into syncopated rhythms both sad and celebratory, like a funeral march on the streets of New Orleans. Then in the second movement, “Danzón y Mambo, Choro y Samba,” Marsalis carries on with the juxtaposition of jubilation and sadness, adding Afro-Latin rhythms and narrative interludes, like the sound of a police whistle followed by a frantic chase scene. The work is frenetic and alive.
Fei Xie is terrific in his solo from André Jolivet’s Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra, performed with the Minnesota Orchestra’s string instruments. With bent knees and elbows slightly jutted out, the musician is in full concentration playing the difficult material. The range of notes in particular is impressive, as Xie’s instrument explores both very high notes and incredibly low pitches, played remarkably quickly. From the explosive first movement to the more dreamlike second movement, Xie brings a sweetness to the tune.
After intermission, the orchestra performs Symphony No. 1 in E-flat major, Opus 13 by George Enescu, a work that first premiered in Paris in 1906. From its uplifting first movement, “Assez vif et rythmé,” it moves into its second movement, “Lent,” evoking a picturesque summer day. A repeated three-note phrase becomes especially intriguing when those notes become like an echo, becoming softer and softer as the sound drifts as if into the distance. Then in the last movement, “Vif et vigoureux,” the orchestra delivers a swirling explosion of music.
Notably in the concert, one orchestra seat is adorned with white roses, in honor of Arek Tesarczyk, the Minnesota Orchestra cellist who passed away last month after a long illness. In dedicating the performance to Tesarczyk, principal cello Tony Ross said that he remembered his colleague as humble, kind and true. “He was also devastatingly funny,” he said. “I thought of him as our rock because he created such a lush and beautiful sound, and that sound enhanced our entire cello section.”
‘Fei Xie Plays Jolivet’
When: Friday, June 6 at 8 p.m.
Where: Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Mpls.
Tickets: $31-$106
Capsule: Fei Xie performs one of the most difficult concertos in the bassoon repertoire in a concert led by Grammy-winning conductor Cristian Măcelaru.
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