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THE CLASSICAL TRAVELER | The Strausses and a Young Master in Tucson

By Paul E. Robinson on November 25, 2015

Conductor Keitaro Harada
Conductor Keitaro Harada

Tucson Symphony Orchestra/Keitaro Harada. Catalina Foothills High School. Tucson, Arizona. November 8, 2015 

Tucson is a city of 537,000 people where the sun often shines, the air is dry, and life is rich and full for many of the folks who live there. For a city of its size, cultural life in Tucson is far better than one might expect, with the University of Arizona contributing mightily to this artistic activity. While the fine football and basketball teams get most of the headlines, the School of Music, which generates almost nightly concerts, also deserves recognition. Then there is the Arizona Opera with five productions a year – Daniel Catán’s magnificent Florencia en el Amazonas is next – and the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music bringing in numerable world-class string quartets each season. And did I mention Ballet Tucson, the Arizona Theater Company and the dozens of art galleries and museums in this fine city?

In the face of all this rich creative activity, it is perhaps the Tucson Symphony Orchestra (TSO) that has the biggest impact on the community. A first-class professional symphony orchestra, the TSO gives concerts almost every week during the season either at the Tucson Music Hall downtown (seating 2,200) or at the Catalina Foothills High School (seating 550) in the north end of town. The TSO is also tremendously active in music education, giving concerts and classes throughout the region. One of its activities is the Young Composers Project designed to provide young people an opportunity to create music and then hear it played by an orchestra.

The concert I attended included two very familiar pieces by Johann Strauss, some rarely-heard music by Richard Strauss and the TSO premiere of a work by the young Japanese-American composer Takuma Itoh – a well-planned program, carried off brilliantly by the orchestra and the dynamic maestro Keitaro Harada.

Only 30, Keitaro Harada is already in great demand all over the United States, holding associate conductor positions with no fewer than three organizations: Arizona Opera, the Cincinnati Symphony and the Richmond Symphony in Virginia.

In the overtures to Die Fledermaus and the Gypsy Baron, Harada elicited playing of remarkable precision from the orchestra and demonstrated an ability to control every detail in a score; that said, I would argue that there was far more movement – one might call it “over-conducting” – on the podium than necessary. Mr. Harada also kept too tight a rein on the hesitations in the score, to the point where they struck one as artificial, rather than natural. In Itoh’s Ripple Effect and Richards Strauss’ Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Harada got excellent results with conducting that, while still disciplined, was less busy.

Composer Takuma Itoh
Composer Takuma Itoh

Composer Takuma Itoh was born in Japan but grew up in California. Among his teachers were Steven Stucky and Robert Sierra at Cornell University. Mr. Itoh, who now teaches at the University of Hawaii, has become one of the most frequently performed composers of his generation. The list of performances cited on his website is impressive. On this occasion, Mr. Itoh’s work with the TSO was part of the residency program of New Music USA and the League of American Orchestras.

At this evening’s concert, Mr. Itoh introduced his piece from the stage with some helpful musical examples played by members of the orchestra. After the concert, he spoke further about Ripple Effects and about how he works, explaining that he enjoys taking musical ideas and playing with them to see how he can make them interesting. Ripple Effects, a short piece lasting only eight minutes, is fairly easy to follow even for an uninitiated audience and the overall effect is pleasing to the ear. One of the key melodic elements in this composition was given to the French horn and TSO’s Principal Horn Johanna Lundy tossed it off with authority.

The second half of the concert was devoted to the wonderful music Richard Strauss wrote for Molière’s play Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. The music is roughly based on some elements of 17th-century French style – several movements are based on Lully – but Strauss manages to infuse it with Straussian rich harmonies and occasional soaring melodic lines. He even sneaks in a quotation from his own Don Quixote. Lovely music by any standard, it requires a virtuoso chamber orchestra to do it justice. The members of the TSO were up to the challenge with outstanding solos from concertmaster Lauren Roth, principal cellist Anne Gratz, principal oboist David Barford and principal trumpet Conrad Jones, among others.

I was delighted to see that more than 50 people stayed after the concert for a Q & A with guest-conductor Keitaro Harada and visiting composer Takuma Itoh. The questions were intelligent and the replies thoughtful and illuminating. Classical music is alive and well in Tucson, and the TSO seems to be doing everything it can to keep its current audiences entertained and informed, at the same time working hard to reach young people – their future audience.

Longtime music director George Hanson has retired – he is now Conductor Laureate – and a search is underway for his successor. To judge by the bios of the conductors being considered for the position, the artistic future of the orchestra will be in good hands; all of them are highly qualified. Although Mr. Harada is not a candidate, he often works with members of the Orchestra as associate conductor of the Arizona Opera (AO), Tucson’s own opera company. Mr. Harada recently conducted Donizetti’s La Fille du Regiment and will soon conduct performances of Bizet’s Carmen with the AO.

#LUDWIGVAN

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