a great bench

In the sporting world, if you’ve got depth on your team, then you’ve got a “great bench”. Supporting players that can come in at a moment’s notice and make a crucial difference when one of your first string players is unable to play.

Here at the Oregon Symphony it’s been a pleasure to watch the growth of our Resident conductor Gregory Vajda as he handles his scheduled duties with the orchestra. He conducts at least one Classical subscription concert a year, as well as kids concerts, pops, run-outs, etc. Occasionally, he fills in for another scheduled conductor if they fall ill, or have a schedule conflict.

Last night was just such a night. Music director Carlos Kalmar had to be in St. Louis for a rehearsal on Tuesday, and we had a run-out concert to Salem Tuesday night. So, Gregory was tapped to take over the concert (albeit with quite a bit of notice – this was a schedule conflict which was managed far in advance).

However, it’s never easy to step in to a concert situation, either as a player or conductor, when all the rehearsing is done, and especially when you’ve had a strong-willed conductor put their stamp on four completed performances, as was the case for this series.

Plus, the program was not an easy one for either the orchestra or the conductor: Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta, the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with soloist Sharon Kam, and the Suite from Strauss’ opera Der Rosenkavalier.

Lots of mixed meters and difficult string parts in the Bartók, lots of sensitive accompaniment to be managed in the Mozart, and lots of tricky tempo changes galore in the Strauss.

The outcome? A very successful performance of all the pieces, with assured leadership and interesting interpretations that made the performance fresh, but not terrifying (which can happen if the replacement conductor decides to make wholesale changes in the basic parameters of the interpretation without any rehearsals).

The Bartók was easily the most relaxed and supple performance of the entire run, while the Mozart and Strauss flowed along without incident. Phrases seemed to breathe a bit easier, the sound relaxed a bit, and the bit of negative tension that had been in place from earlier in the week seemed to abate. I think that the orchestra was happy to have the reins loosened a little bit, especially after two subscription series with guest conductors who were on the freer side before Carlos returned to tighten the screws this past week.