All the Concerts Fit to Print

The program at the MOS was Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, D.485, Tan Dun's Water Concerto for Water Percussion and Orchestra and after intermission, Johannes Brahms's Symphony No. 2 in D major, Opus 73. I like Brahms, so I figured it would be a good program.

The Water Concerto turned out to be very interesting. Tan Dun is a Chinese composer, probably best known for the soundtrack to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. He likes to blend Eastern and Western musical influences, and also explores inventive percussion such as water or paper. This one, obviously, uses water for the percussive sounds. The program says, "performing pairs of hemispherical lighted water basins, a small bottle (for bubbling sounds), waterphone, towel (for drying hands), a pair of water cup drums, medium water gong, four water drums, slinky phone, long water tube with foam paddle, water shaker, four agogo bells, bass bow, sieve and prepared vibraphone.

The orchestra featured three water percussionists, stationed at the front of the stage. The soloist at center stage, and two MSO percussionist towards either side. The soloist was Yuri Yamashita. She has worked closely with Tan Dun, and has quite a varied career. She performs with New York avant-garde street-music band Asphalt Orchestra, indie/new music ensemble Newspeak, and has performed on Broadway (The Lion King, Mamma Mia and Spamalot).

Yamashita entered, from the audience, playing a waterphone. This is a metal instrument with metal posts, filled with water, and is played with a bow to produce an eerie, tonal sound. All three percussionists performed at a pair of water basins. They slapped the water with their hands and with cups, they splashed, and dripped water into them. They held tubes in the water, and slapped the ends while varying the depth to make a range of tones. They tapped gongs in the water at varying depths. Yamashita did a "drum solo," tapping on wooden bowls floating upside-down in the water.

The orchestra sometimes played melodically, but generally they were an avant-garde accompaniment. The piece was more enjoyable when they were playing, than during the percussion solos. They had their own innovative parts, such as when the horn players tapped on their mouthpieces as percussion, or played the mouthpieces separate from the horns.

It was quite interesting, and I'm glad to have seen it.

I figure I've been to well over one hundred concerts by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. I first became a subscriber, for the 1988/89 season, as far as I know (ticket stubs). That's a six-show package every year but one, since then. But there were very few years which I actually remembered all the shows throughout the year, and the occasional show where I wasn't able to attend and gave my tickets away. And then the times I bought extra tickets, for special shows, like Ithzak Perlman or Yo-yo Ma or Bugs Bunny on Broadway. My best guess puts me at around 120 concerts. In addition to that number, there were the occasional shows before I started subscribing. I know I went a few times with school groups when I was a kid in the early seventies. The Symphony used to come to Grafton, too.

Zdenek Macal was the director when I started going. Then Andreas Delfs. Now Edo DeWaart. I've enjoyed tracking the orchestra membership changes over the years, and watching the musicians who have been there the whole time - even back to those I saw when I was a kid.

Twenty years ago, they didn't have soloists for every show, like they do now. As much as I enjoy the solos, I actually prefer the regular pieces for the orchestra. I love the intricacy and interplay between the sections.

Row G, seat 33 - seventh row, center. It was nice of Ma to come to Milwaukee for Cyn's birthday (two days before), since she's such a big cello fan.

Review by TOM STRINI
Journal Sentinel music critic
Posted: May 7, 2008

When Yo-Yo played along with the Milwaukee Symphony cello section, as he often did Wednesday night in R. Strauss' "Don Quixote," he made eye contact all the way to the players at the back stands. He leaned way around Andreas Delfs' podium to see concertmaster Frank Almond and the first violins when his solo cello line joined theirs. He swiveled nearly 180 degrees to lock eyes and interlock rhythms with frequent duet partner Robert Levine, whose bold viola played Sancho Panza to Ma's Quixote. Ma and Delfs practically danced to communicate their cues. When Ma wasn't playing at all, his ear turned to the winds or horns or whoever owned the moment.

Ma did not merely plug in what he always does to whatever Delfs and the MSO might do. He heard the totality of the music. He took in everything and applied it to an interpretation unique to this night with this orchestra in this city. Such behavior from your superstar soloist inspires an orchestra. The MSO played Strauss' vast, mercurial score with the communicative verve of top-drawer chamber musicians on a roll. The result was a miracle of musical storytelling.

In addition to expressive, beautiful sound and confident, even definitive, shaping of Strauss' tricky, gestural melodies, Ma brought an infectious love of music to bear on the evening. Playing an instrument well is difficult, and playing under pressure for pay before a sellout crowd at Uihlein Hall doesn't make it easier - unless you're Yo-Yo Ma. His supple bowing and graceful left hand look effortless. His face beams with such delight that he makes colleagues and patrons alike think: Hey, it's fun to play music!

As an encore, at Delfs' request, Ma played the Prelude to Bach's Cello Suite No. 1. The sublime, brisk, straightforward reading was just the right chaser for the overripe and frequently ironic Romanticism of "Don Quixote."

Ma did not sit in with the orchestra during Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, but his spirit did. The audience quite sensibly went crazy for Delf's thrill-a-second reading.

Cyn's review
Posted: May 8, 2008

I haven't felt that kind of excitement in the air at Uihlein Hall in a long time. The place was full of people of all ages, eagerly anticipating Yo-Yo Ma. I saw hugs, smiles, and waves...very festive!

I was disappointed to find out that he wasn't sitting with the orchestra for the whole evening, just the second half. But I was not disappointed by the orchestra's performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7! Andreas Delfs conducted (danced, jumped, waved, emoted) with such intensity that he was breathless after just the first movement. As they seated the latecomers, he leaned against his railing breathing hard before starting the second movement.

The audience jumped to its feet with wild applause at the end of Beethoven, bringing Delfs out three times for a bow before intermission.

Yo-Yo Ma came out with him at the beginning of the second half to our very excited applause. During the parts of R. Strauss' "Don Quixote" where he didn't play, he seemed to be completely absorbed in the emotion of the piece. He frowned, smiled, grimaced, looked euphoric, looked pained, and jumped at the sudden crashes of the song. Occasionally while playing, he made teasing eye contact with various musicians, sometimes getting them to smile. It looked like they were all having such a good time up there. After a particularly beautiful solo by the violist behind him, he turned all the way around to nod at him, bringing a grinning nod in return from Robert Levine.

As Tom Strini said above, we did go crazy with applause and shouts of appreciation at the end of the performance. Yo-Yo Ma came out several times for bows, hugging and kissing various people, pulling Robert Levine up from his chair and bringing him to the front at least three times for a bow, and teasing the bassists as he left the stage and came back over and over.

He brought his cello back out for an encore, with Delfs sitting on the steps of his podium. Delfs had requested Bach's Cello Suite No. 1. It was so beautiful and soothing. Then more applause, bows, hugs, ins and outs, and eventually the lights came up. Kevin and I were disappointed that he only played that one song as his encore. We wanted at least one more of just him without the orchestra. Oh well. It was a fantastic night.

Pianist Lang Lang, with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He played Tchaikovsky.

Violin virtuoso.

Conductor Neil Gittleman was hosting a talk after Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. I was familiar with ELP's version of the suite, and wanted to know what the original sounded like. I was mildly amused to hear that Gittleman had heard ELP's version first, as well.

Third row. Me, Bill, Steve, Keith.