The Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra aimed for groove with its concert at The O’Shaughnessy on Saturday, with a program of music that danced. From Latin Danzón rhythms to lighthearted ballet music, it was a concert that leaned into movement. The dance theme even extended into Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A Major, whose rhythms give it a dance quality. In fact, the 7th Symphony was called “the apotheosis of dance” by composer Richard Wagner.
Founded by Kevin Ford, a gay man, MPO has centered the gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans community and its allies in its 30-year history. More recently, the organization has expanded its mission to incorporate other identities and differences.
With its firm rooting in LGBTQ advocacy and history, the title of the concert, “Pulse,” called to mind the Pulse mass shooting, when 49 people were fatally shot and 53 more were injured at a queer dance club in Orlando, Florida, in 2016. But if that tragedy was being referenced, there was no note of it in the program, and it wasn’t mentioned in remarks by conductor Brian Dowdy or board president Daniel Meyers. Instead, the overall mood emanating on Saturday was one of joy, camaraderie and the pleasure of music that moves. “Pulse,” it turns out, is a dancing vibe that lives on beyond that horrible incident.
MPO holds its own as a member-based, volunteer orchestra, in part because of the material the group selects, often incorporating underrepresented composers in its lineup. For instance, the orchestra has commissioned a new work by Black nonbinary composer Yaz Lancaster, which they’ll play in May for its “Throughlines” concert.
Saturday’s concert started out with Mexican composer Arturo Márquez. Danzón No. 2 is one of nine Danzón works the composer has written. The formal dance bears its roots from both African and European influences and was popularized in Cuba and is also practiced in Mexico.
Clarinet player Lydia Sadoff started the piece off with an elegant, seductive solo, accompanied by percussion. Soon, she was joined by the oboe and the other instruments in a piece with complex syncopation and sizzling energy.
After that, the group performed Samuel Barber’s “Souvenirs” Ballet Suite, Op. 28. Perhaps best known for his Adagio for Strings, Barber also notably composed “Medea,” a ballet written for Martha Graham, and the choral work “Agnus Dei.” He was also openly gay in a time when homosexuality wasn’t socially accepted.
Written in 1952, “Souvenirs” is structured as a series of dances, with each movement title referring to a different part of the Hotel Plaza, where Barber visited with his mother as a young person. The first movement, for instance, is called Waltz “(The Lobby)”. The second movement is called Schottische “(Third Floor Hallway.)” Later on, he calls the fourth movement Two Step “(Tea in the Palm Court.)”
There were moments of dissonance in the work, but overall, Barber goes for ease and pleasantness with this music, layered with skipping melodies, a dash of nostalgia, and intriguing touches like a harp solo here, a sustained harmonic there.
After intermission, the orchestra performed Beethoven. When Symphony No. 7 premiered in 1813, the audience demanded an immediate encore of the second movement, and it’s not hard to understand why. Used in countless movies and TV shows for dramatic effect, the second movement is suspenseful and stirring. Dowdy took a significant pause before the musicians started the movement, giving it gravity. The orchestra performed the whole symphony with admirable gusto.
Up next
Who: Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra
What: Next up: “Throughlines”
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 11
Where: O’Shaughnessy Auditorium, 2004 Randolph Ave.
Tickets: $0-$30 at oshag.stkate.edu
Capsule: MPO next performs in May, featuring a world premiere by Yaz Lancaster plus works by Franz Liszt and Emilie Mayer.
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