Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra's Assertive Take on Stravinsky's 'Rite of Spring'

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The audience riot at the 1913 Paris premiere of the ballet Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring) was apparently as much reaction to the choreography of Vaslav Nijinsky as to the revolutionary music by Igor Stravinsky. You won’t be surprised to hear that there were no riots on Saturday evening at the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra concert performance of the piece.

Even with many players added, the woodwinds showed just how good they are with expressive and colorful playing that remained balanced. Catherine Chen’s haunting sound in the high register of the instrument graced the most famous bassoon solo in the repertory. Brass were in sync in every way, as were the strings and the indefatigable percussion players.

Guest conductor Karina Canellakis has an assertive style on the podium, not inappropriate for much of this beast of a score about pagan ritual and the sacrifice of a virgin. Yet, if size of gesture is the conductor’s indicator of volume, Canellakis was fully big with nowhere to go much of the time. I’ve heard performances with more subtlety. My main reaction, as ever, was the hall itself. I last heard Rite three weeks ago in London at Royal Albert Hall, a grand space with famously ringing acoustics. Hearing the same music in the unflattering dryness of Uihlein Hall was frustrating. I’m eager to be listening to MSO at the Grand Theater two years from now.

Antonín Dvořák’s Piano Concerto in G minor had never been played at MSO (and rarely played anywhere), and after hearing it I understand why. This is a dull, thankless piece of music. The third movement is a little more interesting, but only marginally. Making his debut with an American orchestra, Sunwook Kim did what he could with the pedestrian material. His technique is solid and he plays with attractive sound, though I found his tone a trifle strident in the loudest passages.

In the last year of her short life, Lili Boulanger (1893-1918) composed D’un soir triste (On a sad evening), an effectively moody brief piece brought to life to start the concert on a pensive note.