DSOLive Returns to Cyberspace

Yesterday evening, DSOLive, the series of streamed performances by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO), returned to cyberspace with a richly diverse program led by Music Director Jader Bignamini. The guest soloist was saxophonist Branford Marsalis. The full title of the program was An American in Paris & Branford Marsalis, and this was one of those occasions in which the soloist performed during both halves of the evening.

Erwin Schulhoff with dancer Milča Mayerová (photographer unknown, from Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

Neither of his selections was by a composer born in the United States. In the first half Marsalis performed Erwin Schulhoff’s “Hot-Sonate” for alto saxophone and piano, composed in 1930. Schulhoff had a passion for jazz but never visited the United States. After the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia, he would be deported to the Wülzburg prison, where he died on August 18, 1942. “Hot-Sonate” was subsequently orchestrated for solo and chamber ensemble by Richard Rodney Bennett, and that is the version that was performed last night. “For the record” (as they say), it was also the version performed when Marsalis played it with the San Francisco Symphony under the baton of Thomas Wilkins.

The second half began with a performance of Darius Milhaud’s Scaramouche suite. This was originally composed for piano duo but was subsequently arranged for alto saxophone and orchestra. The music is rich with Brazilian influences, inspired by the time Milhaud spend in Rio Janeiro while serving as secretary to French ambassador Paul Claudel. Indeed, the last movement of the suite is a samba choro; and Marsalis was quite at home with its sassy rhetoric.

Only one composer was represented twice on last night’s programs, and his selections concluded each half. As might be guessed, that composer was George Gershwin. His “Cuban Overture” was the perfect sassy follow-up to “Hot-Sonate,” while the entire evening was wrapped up with the comforting familiarity of “An American in Paris.” The “bridge” between Milhaud and Gershwin was Leonard Bernstein with three dance episodes he had composed for the musical On the Town. The program began with the last of the six short compositions that Joan Tower composed under the title Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman.

Taken as a whole, this was an engaging program of American spirit, even if one of the composers never set foot on American soil. Personally, I was glad to see Marsalis getting the attention he deserved. He brought a keen sense of concert rhetoric to his performance, even if the music he was playing was clearly inspired by the “jazz age.” Taken as a whole, this was a vigorous launch of the new DSO season; and I am hoping that future DSOLive offerings will be just as engaging.