Tones of 21st-Cenutry Hope
By Bryce Christensen
Commenting on his Thus Sprach Zarathustra, composed at the tail end of the 19th century, the young Richard Strauss declared it a work of "symphonic optimism . . . dedicated to the 20th century." But as the delighted audience who gathered at the Heritage Center on November 17th can attest, the symphonic optimism of this luminous work still glows 11 years into the 21st century. As the opening number of the Orchestra of Southern Utah’s “World Journey” concert, Strauss’s brilliant number set a tone of irrepressible hopefulness for an exuberant concert.
From the first thrumming throbs of Thus Sprach Zarathustra , the Orchestra of Southern Utah gave listeners every reason for musical optimism. And that optimism intensified as radiant trumpet notes pierced the low vibrato of the strings, hailing the first beams of the Sunrise that Strauss celebrated in this opening movement of his famous composition. And though this was the only movement of the Strauss work that OSU performed for this concert, it served perfectly to set the mood for the World Journey that the ensemble took as its concert theme.
Having opened with the first morning rays of light falling on Stauss’s Germany, the orchestra took its World Journey south to Rome, there to savor the harmonies of Respighi’s Pines of Rome. A marvelously textured work, Pines transported the audience to the groves of Italy’s greatest city, allowing listeners first to feel the sprightly breezes that sway pine boughs in the city’s Villa Borghese gardens, then to ponder the deep solemnities of a somber Roman catacomb, only to move on to the exhilarating heights of the Janiculum. Opening panoramic views from these heights, a series of gifted soloists—piano, clarinet, trumpet, oboe, and viola—allowed the audience to soar across time and space as they contemplated the grandeur of the imperial center of antiquity from a range of tonal perspectives. Though all of the solos rewarded attentive listening, moving seamlessly from passages of sparkling scintillation to passages of sweet languor, the trumpet solo deserves particular mention for its surprisingly poignant and reflective tenor, a tenor that carried the audience well beyond the range usually associated with an instrument often regarded as insistently loud and martial. To be sure, martial notes did fill the concert hall when the orchestra segued into the final movement of Pines, a movement resounding with the cadence of Roman legionnaires entering the city in triumph. As the timpani marked out the firm stamp of the soldiers’ march, the entire orchestra—strings, winds, and brass—joined in the victorious final parade, carrying the audience with them in their irresistible progress down the Appian Way.
Leading the orchestra in its masterful performance of the evening’s opening numbers, conductor Xun Sun returned to the podium after an extended leave of absence, inspiring musicians and listeners alike with his interpretive passion. Sun’s deep engagement with the music were much in evidence this night, an engagement that was amplified by Sun’s inclusion of guest musicians in the opening two selections of more than two dozen guest musicians from Southern Utah University’s Symphony Orchestra. Not only did the presence of these guest musicians deliver the immediate benefit of a marvelously full orchestral sound, but that presence promised the very real possibility of some of these talented young musicians becoming long-term members of OSU in the years ahead.
Though the guest musicians left the stage at intermission, Sun and the OSU still commanded ample musical resources for carrying on their World Journey after the interval. Indeed, with Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony (Symphony #41 in C major), the OSU converted their World Journey into a galactic Worlds journey, daring to leave behind the terrestrial orb to visit a far-distant planet dominating the earth’s night sky on the very night that OSU performed this number. Praised by Sir George Grove as “the greatest orchestral work of the world which preceded the French Revolution,” this symphony does radiate a heavenly 18th-century grace. Opening with a movement that counterpoises measures of celestial delicacy with measures taut with frenetic striving, the symphony then transitioned into a second movement pulsing with the energy of the sarabande’s dance rhythms. Omitting the symphony’s third movement, the orchestra concluded with the final movement’s eruption of musical joy—manifest in the fanfare of brass playing off the sonorous energies of the strings and winds.
OSU may have returned to the home planet for the final number, but they returned—in keeping with the World Journey theme—very far from home, landing in China for the stunning concluding number, “Ritual ShenNong,” truly a tour de force. As an impressive indication of Xun Sun’s musical connections in his homeland, the composer of this number—Zhou Hong—was in attendance for the performance of his composition, coming to the stage to be recognized by appreciative OSU officers and to be named an Honorary Citizen of Cedar City by Mayor Joe Burgess. Zhou Hong in turn presented his hosts with a gift of beautiful Chinese china. But his real gift to all in attendance was his music, music so memorably beautiful that it utterly mesmerized listeners. The powerful percussive cannonade of timpani in the opening of this number seemed to break open the very well-springs of harmonic energy, setting free a majestic river of orchestral power. That power swelled into a magnificent torrent, probing, ever-probing, the banks through which it flowed. The power of that torrent grew even greater when the instrumentalists of the orchestra were joined by the vocalists of the Southern Utah Chorale. Though few in the audience could understand the Mandarin words they sang, all could feel their pleading, even prayerful, intensity, particularly when soloist Wayne Reynolds distilled that intensity into one compelling and stirring voice.
As the last note of “Ritual ShenNong” died away, Sun turned on his podium to again recognize the composer, Zhou Hong, seated in an audience that immediately rose to its feel in grateful applause for his music—and for the entire evening’s music. For this was a night that, from beginning to end, gave appreciative Cedar City listeners reason to hope for a 21st century laden with exquisite orchestral music.
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