Smiling Through Wayfaring Planets

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From the evidence of the inaugural concerts of its 80th season, conductor Bruno Ferrandis has found a secure home with the Santa Rosa Symphony. Now the third-oldest in the state, this orchestra is playing better than ever for the French maestro, clearly finding his incisive section control and sonic balance to their liking, which was something not always present under predecessor Jeffrey Kahane. Pianist Kahane had a virtuoso’s flair and wide audience appeal, but not the precise baton that Ferrendis seems to bring to each work he presents.

In this first full season of works of his own selection, on Sunday Ferrandis opened with Messiaen’s Un Sourire (A smile), composed in 1989 as a tribute to Mozart. It’s a short paean, episodic but spiced with xylophone and chimes, and the orchestra’s playing of the simple melody, first stated by the violins, was colorfully luminous.

It was to be an afternoon of large forces, as the lovely Messiaen was followed by Mahler’s early masterpiece, Songs of a Wayfarer. Orchestrated after the premiere of the First Symphony, the four songs depict a young man unlucky in love, wandering the wide world. Yet it’s always sung by a woman, usually a mezzo, and here by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo faculty artist Jacalyn Kreitzer.

Kreitzer sang well in all registers, particularly in the second song (“Ging Heut’ Morgen über’s Feld”), where her earthy, full low tones were easily heard over the composer’s lyrical writing. At other places, orchestral volume covered Kreitzer’s excellent German. The charming unison-note duet of harpist Randall Pratt and principal horn Darby Hinshaw in the concluding song, “Die zwei blauen Augen,” was only surpassed by the twice-repeated six pianissimo chords at the end, which were under Ferrandis’ impeccable control. There wasn’t a sound in the hall, as the audience held its breath for yet another hushed chord, which never came.

Planetary Escape

Gustav Holst’s most popular piece, the 1916 Suite for Large Orchestra, Op. 32 (“The Planets”), was an orchestral tour de force, comprising the entire second half and featuring the simultaneous projection of videos of the seven planets on a screen above the orchestra. Pluto had not been discovered at the time of its composition, and it is said Holst showed no interest in writing an additional movement, as the popular “Planets” was overshadowing interest in his subsequent works.

Ferrandis was animated during the entire suite, conducting with great vigor and using deep knee bends that would make MTT envious. Principal oboe Barbara Midney, concertmaster Joseph Edelberg, and the entire brass section shone in their respective solos, and principal pianist Kymry Esainko on celesta added to the prismatic mix.

The Sonoma County Bach Choir gave a haunting and wordless ending to the mystical “Neptune,” singing from the hall’s lobby and falling into silence as the auditorium doors closed. Ferrandis was in complete command throughout, and managed a perfect combination of sonic drama and delicacy that is inherent in this sprawling but thrilling music.

Santa Rosa resident Terry McNeill produces classical piano recitals in the three-county Concerts Grand series, and he is currently researching the lives and artistry of keyboard titans Anton Rubinstein and Josef Hoffmann.