In 1997, while in the Netherlands for work, I had the joy of attending the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra [concertgebouw.nl] directed by Leonard Slatkin. It was both wonderful and ironic that in Amsterdam I could hear amazing American music that I might never be able to hear back home in the US.
These are the notes I took after the first of two concerts I attended.
A Trip to the Concertgebouw
Friday, January 17, 1997, 8:15PM
Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, o.l.v. Leonard Slatkin
solist: James Tocco (piano).
When you’re staying in The Hague, a trip to the Concertgebouw begins with a trip of about an hour and a half. It takes about an hour to go from Den Haag to Amsterdam, then about a half hour by tram (streetcar) to go from Amsterdam Central Station to the Concertgebouw. But it would be worth it even without the incidental sightseeing tour a train ride provides.
Tickets for concerts may be arranged a number of places, including the VVV, which is a tourist information bureau. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is deservedly quite popular, so this particular concert was officially sold out at the bureau. They found out that a very few single seats were left at the main ticket office, and they reserved one for me.
Friday evening concerts cost fl 67,50, which is about $40. This is the price for any seat in the house. As I booked at the last minute, I got an odd seat at the end of the U-shaped balcony. I say “odd” because it was the only seat on its row there. But it was great because it looked over the string basses, giving me a rich bass sound that I like. Still, the acoustics are so good there, I imagine everyone heard that sound.
Variations on America, Charles Ives, orch. William Schuman
The concert opened with Charles Ives’ Variations on America, orchestrated by William Schuman. When I saw that a piano soloist was featured for the concert, I thought perhaps they would present this work on piano, but they saved him for later. Actually he only performed one piece in the whole concert, the Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue.
After the excellent Variations, Leonard Slatkin spoke to the audience. He mentioned that the title, “Variations on America” might surprise them since the tune is better known over here as “God save the King/Queen”. He told them that, in addition to beating them in the war, we decided to take some of their music, too. He called it our “secondary national anthem.”
The General Slocum, Charles Ives
Maestro Slatkin went on to tell about the rest of the Ives programme. Ives’ “The General Slocum” tells, without words, the true story of a horrible disaster. An excursion boat with about 1000 people was touring in New York Harbor when a fire broke out. Eventually the boiler exploded, killing about half of the people. The (literally) dead calm after the explosion is eerily represented by the music.
Yale-Princeton football game, Charles Ives
Ives’ “Yale-Princeton football game” is probably unique in depicting the atmosphere at one particular football game. Ives attended Princeton himself, so of course he depicted a game which Princeton won! Incorporated in the music are representations of cheers which football crowds of the time would have chanted. One went “Harvard has blue stockinged girls, Yale has blue stockinged men!” Even though Harvard wasn’t involved in this game, the cheer at least attacked Yale. Another was about one of the players.
Both pieces are fairly short, but well worth hearing.
First Symphony, Samuel Barber
Mr. Slatkin described Samuel Barber as a true throwback to his European roots. He wrote romantic music at a time when it wasn’t accepted. Since it is now becoming acceptable again, Mr. Slatkin suggested that Barber may be better considered having anticipated the future. The first half of the concert ended with Barber’s First Symphony, op. 9. It builds to some truly wonderful sounds.
Maestro Slatkin reversed the printed order of the second half of the program. He explained to the audience that since the intent this evening is to teach a bit about American music, we should play these three pieces in chronological order. He said that Duke Ellington only got to really work in this kind of music late in his career because “white” people had to make it acceptable first.
Rhapsody in Blue, George Gershwin
So he opened with George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, with James Tocco on piano. For this piece they opened a trapdoor in the stage and raised a piano out of the floor. That was interesting. First the open three long narrow doors in the floor and erect from them metal poles with red velvet ropes between them to make a safety barrier around the trapdoor. Then a huge square of floor drops away, as though hinged on one edge like a trap door, but slowly because it’s all motorized. Once it’s down they somehow get it horizontal again and put a piano on it for raising up to stage level. Once it’s up they take down the safety barrier and put it back into the cabinets built into the floor.
Then they rearranged the chairs to form a small ensemble instead of the full orchestra. This group consisted of the soloist, a string quartet, two French Horns, two Trombones, two trumpets, one banjo, one harp, one tuba, one baritone Saxophone, one person doubling on alto and soprano Saxophone, a tenor Saxophone, two clarinets, one bass clarinet, one oboe, xylophone, trap drum set (beautiful bright red), a gong, tympani, cymbals, and a second piano. The director stood immediately next to the piano, his riser was half under the piano. It made a very tight intimate effect.
This small group had the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard for Gershwin. Everything was so bright and clear and clean. The strings, being few in number, produced a rich vibrato with a deep woody tone. Similarly for the brass and woodwinds, every sound counted. This was probably the high point of the concert, but what followed was in no way an anticlimax.
After this piece the stage was reset for full orchestra, although the instruments were rearranged compared to the first half of the concert. Yes, this involved the whole procedure of sending the solo piano back into the basement. In this setting the left side of the stage (as viewed from the audience) had a row of Saxophones in front, followed by a row of Tuba, Trombones, and one String Bass, followed lastly by a row of Trumpets in back. To the right of them came strings, with woodwinds and percussion behind them. On the far right were the rest of the String Basses.
Pavanne, Morton Gould
Morton Gould’s Pavanne was a great surprise for me. I don’t remember hearing it played with such a skillful “big band” sound. Great swing feeling. Having the big band ensemble gathered together on the left of the stage, including a full Saxophone section, gave the piece enormous energy.
Harlem, Duke Ellington
Finally we came to Duke Ellington’s Harlem. This piece had some nice surprises also, as it built to some great sounds.
Final thoughts on a wonderful evening
The concert hall reminded me of Stude Hall at Rice University, although it did not have the wood panelling. The seating arrangement was similar, though not identical. The seats behind the orchestra come down all they way to the stage! When Leonard Slatkin left the stage during applause breaks, he had to run up the stairs next to audience seats to the upper floor, because that was the door available to him. One time he stopped halfway up and came back down! The balcony is of similar design, and the main floor is all one section.
All the musicians, and Mr. Slatkin, wore tuxedos with white bow ties. The stage hands wore tuxedos with black bow ties. During the resetting of the stage, the eight string basses were left on the stage, and the stage hands moved them to their new locations. Of course they did an excellent job, but I wonder how many string bass owners would be comfortable letting someone else move such a large and fragile instrument?
An evening’s enjoyment complete, now of course begins the hour and a half journey back to the hotel in Den Haag (The Hague). This time the train ride afforded time for studying the Concertgebouw schedule for future opportunities, of which there are many.
George Jolly
Last modified on 2024-10-08