Pulling Back the Curtain: The Music of Fantasy

By Bryce Christensen

     In the view of critic Michael Dirda, “The best fantasies pull aside the velvet curtain of mere appearance,” so opening to us a “re-enchanted world, reminding us that it is neither prosaic nor meaningless, and that how we live and what we do truly matters.” On the evening of February 21st, the Orchestra of Southern Utah (OSU) transported its enraptured listeners at Cedar City’s Heritage Center into the best of fantasies in a concert dedicated to the theme of “Memorable Music Tales.” Fusing instrumental and vocal music with marvelously choreographed dance, the concert delivered all the magic of the fantasy worlds of hobbits and wizards, of wicked witches and gingerbread houses, of flying boys and menacing pirates, of a swan-maiden and a treacherous sorcerer, and of a sleeping princess and a bold prince, And just as Dirda avers, these fantasies somehow illuminated the world both inside and outside of the concert hall, exposing invigorating realities beneath the prosaic and meaningless, investing the lives of those in the mesmerized audience with new significance and purpose.
     Opening the evening, OSU president Harold Shirley promised that during the concert about to begin, the brave concert-goers who had made their way through the evening’s adverse weather would be rewarded with “flights of the imagination” sure to charm and inspire as they passed through the thrilling lands of Tolkien’s Middle Earth, through the marvels of the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales, and through yet other realms of capacious fantasy.
     Fulfilling the expectations raised by Shirley’s opening remarks, OSU assistant conductor Carylee Zwang took the director’s podium bearing an object which initially looked like a mere baton but which very quickly revealed itself to be the astonishing equivalent of Gandalf’s magical staff as she used it to draw from the orchestra a spell-binding rendition of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ Symphonic Suite, by Howard Shore, taken from the soundtrack of the movie The Fellowship of the Ring. Opening with stirring strains suggestive of epoch-making endeavors by noble races of men, elves, dwarves, and—yes—hobbits, this musical passport into a particularly rich fantasy domain soon segued into serene measures alive with the pastoral joys of the Shire, homeland of the intrepid hobbits Frodo and Sam, who emerge as the unlikely saviors of a world threatened by the powerful evil of the necromancer Sauron. Indeed, the pastoral interlude of this wonderful composition yielded to passages bristling with the harsh energy of intense combat of the sort that Frodo, Sam, and their allies must pass through as they battle Sauron’s armies in their quest to destroy the all-powerful but all-corrupting ring that Sauron seeks. The malign but seductive character of this ring came through in an eerie passage of this suite, rendered very compellingly by the musicians under Zwang’s baton-staff, before a powerful conclusion evoked a spirit of hard-won triumph, a musical celebration-lament of victory won at tragically high cost that includes the permanent loss of an earlier world’s Elfin splendors and an irrevocable change in Frodo, leaving him unfit for a life in his beloved Shire.
     Turning from Middle Earth to medieval Germany, listeners next surrendered to the entrancing notes of the Prelude to the opera Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck, an opera in which a resourceful Hansel and Gretel must overcome the malice of both a desperate stepmother, intent on losing them in the woods, and a cannibalistic witch, hoping to feast on their flesh. Performed with finely gauged expressiveness by the orchestra, this prelude reflects the tender innocence of the two children facing lethal peril and their touching and prayerful faith for deliverance. Though this prelude incorporates some dark hints of the malicious and lethal intent of the witch threatening this young duo, Humperdinck ultimately develops—as Shirley wittily noted in his introductory remarks—a narrative less grim than the Grimm original. In part through a dynamic interplay between the orchestra’s string and wind instruments, this prelude reflects the lively energy of the endangered brother and sister, an energy that ultimately helps secure a reassuring happily-ever-after conclusion, perfectly captured in the prelude’s concluding harmonies.
     With assistance from music from the soundtrack from the motion picture Peter Pan, a soundtrack composed by James Newton Howard, concert-goers left behind a fairy tale set in medieval Germany in favor of a fantasy island magically connected to Victorian London as they visited Never-Never Land, there to share in the adventures of Peter Pan, Wendy and the other Darling Children, Nana, Tinkerbell, and—of course--Captain Hook. Since part of the enduring appeal of Peter Pan’s fantasy world is that it delivers visitors from the drudgery that comes with growing up, it was quite appropriate that the orchestra was joined for this number by vocalist Debra Carter, orally recounting the thrilling adventures of Peter Pan and his companions in the endearing spirit of a bedtime story. Perfectly complementing the story-hour excitement of her narration were the voices of three children’s choirs joined in one, their background chants redolent with the fairy dust of a childhood dreamland. Melissa Leavitt (director of the Southern Utah Children’s Choir), Jolene Heit (director of the Cedar Music Store Choir Choir), and Rebecca Hughes (director of the Gateway Preparatory Academy Choir) all deserve high praise for preparing these budding vocal talents for this night’s performance.
     After the intermission, OSU conductor Xun Sun took the director’s podium, demonstrating that, like Zwang, he knows very well how to transform a baton into an instrument of potent enchantment as he led the orchestra in impressive performances of four selections from Swan Lake and the beguiling Sleeping Beauty Waltz, two compositions by Tchaikovsky that drew listeners into fantasies of archetypal profundity.
     Positively ethereal in the opening measures of its Swan Theme, Swan Lake modulated into a number of varied moods in the four selections OSU performed in this concert. Even within the first selection, listeners noticed the striking contrast between the joyous sublimity of the opening and the awe-engendering grandeur of later measures. In performing the second Valse selection, Sun and the
instrumentalists beneath his impassioned baton played with an airy grace that then tightened into a fiery frenzy before relaxing again into a liquid waltz, before again growing taut, finally building to a bracing climax. In the third selection—Danse des petits cygnes—the orchestra infected the audience with a tone of spritely and irrepressible bliss—before jolting listeners with an abrupt—but stimulating--conclusion. But in the transcendent Scène movement with which the orchestra concluded its excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece, the orchestra gave listeners reason to wonder if they had not miraculously gained access to the celestial music of the spheres. Although the entire orchestra performed this movement superbly, three soloists merit particular praise: playing on electronic keyboard notes often performed on harp, Brian Chan elevated the concert to regions of celestial otherworldliness. His masterful solo set the stage for violinist Heather Wilhelm, who demonstrated rare and sensitive artistry in her seraphic solo. Finally, cellist, Nina Hansen enhanced listeners’ appreciation for the mellow richness of her instrument in her subtle but radiant solo.
     But on this special concert evening, it was not just the very considerable musical gifts of OSU’s conductor and instrumentalists who opened a rewarding imaginative perspective. Two highly refined arts came together in this concert to make real for the audience the riveting struggle in
Swan Lake of fairy-tale lovers Siegfried and Odette as the wicked sorcerer Von Rothbart deploys his evil machinations to separate them. Translating the notes of the Valse movement of Tchaikovsky’s tale into the vivid choreography of dance, Brenna Evans and Zadie Faris perfectly matched their graceful steps and gestures to the rhythms of the great Russian composer’s narrative music. The audience relished this fusion of two inspired art forms.
     Happily, this fusion continued into the evening’s final number, the Sleeping Beauty Waltz, as two other dancers entered the stage with their embodied artistry, so amplifying the influence of Tchaikovsky’s captivating music in allowing listeners to again experience the plight of Princess Aurora, lost in the black magic of permanent sleep, again share her thrilling rescue, effected by the loving kiss of Prince Phillip. As the dance soloist for this concluding composition, choreographer and teacher Michelle Ramos of Southern Utah University displayed a dazzling virtuosity. Vigorous yet elegant, her interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s waltz delighted all who watched it. When Ramos shared the spotlight with one of her students, Laura Choi, the audience marveled at both dancers’ nuanced command of their fairy theme. And in seeing how much Choi had learned from her instructor, those in the audience recognized Romos’ mentoring influence in the earlier performance of Evans and Faris.
     Finally, the songs, the oral narration, the instrumental music, and the dances celebrating fantasy and folk tale came to a close. But deeply gratified concert-goers recognized—with Dirda—that their foray into some of the world’s greatest fantasies had lifted and enriched the real world awaiting them outside of the Heritage Center. For that uplift, for that enrichment, they felt extremely grateful to all of the performers whose talents had come together for this performance. Concert-goers also felt thankful for the generous sponsorship of the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, sponsorship which helped underwrite this wonderful reminder of the creative emancipation that make-believe fantasy makes possible as it lifts curtains hiding the deepest realities.