December 31st, 2013: New Year's Eve at the Seattle Symphony

Ludovic Morlot gave the downbeat, and the Seattle Symphony burst out in John Williams' iconic Star Wars music. The brass were crisp and resonant, the strings unified, the ensemble energetic and coherent. The Seattle Symphony was back! After the catastrophic performance of Beethoven's 9th symphony on Saturday, it was clear within seconds that this night would not be a repeat of that, even though most of the principal players were still missing.

With Morlot back on the podium and spirits evidently high throughout the orchestra, the New Year's Eve concert that we attended last night was a great success. It was a slight departure from the regular tradition of having Beethoven's 9th symphony performed on New Year's Eve itself in addition to surrounding nights, and although at first glance I'm always skeptical of such changes, I admit I enjoyed myself throughout most of the program last night.

Morlot and the Symphony gave a thrilling and wonderful performance of the Star Wars suite, worthy of John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra. During passages where the strings were exposed, it was evident that the sound was just a touch thinner than normal, due to the missing principles, but the energy was definitely there.

Following the Star Wars suite, Morlot conducted Dance of the Comedians from The Bartered Bride by Smetana. It was an absolutely charming little piece, and the orchestra played it delightfully. Morlot made the most priceless gestures and facial expressions throughout this rather, dare I say, cute piece of music.

After that Jeff Tyzik, the new Seattle Symphony pops conductor, joined Morlot on stage to play a solo trumpet part in his St. Louis Blues. Tyzik appeared to be a rather boisterous personality, and his trumpet playing was very good. The piece also featured solos from Ko-ichiro Yamamoto on the trombone, as well as clarinet solos from Benjamin Lulich, who I believe is trying out for a position in the orchestra. I thoroughly enjoyed this piece from beginning to end. It was one of the most catchy pieces of jazz I'd ever heard.

Jeff Tyzik then took to the podium to conduct Glière's Russian Sailor's Dance from The Red Poppy. It's a work I was quite familiar with, and though the orchestra played it well, I felt that as it built up more and more and gained momentum, it failed to fully capture the Russian spirit that would make one tap their toes and want to start dancing to it.

And finally, to close off the first half of the program, Morlot and Tyzik traded off conducting duties in five movements from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker suite, Morlot conducting the original version of one movement, and then Tyzik conducting a jazz version of the same movement. Morlot and Tyzik seemed to think this was a brilliant idea, and I think it was the highlight of the concert for them. I enjoyed many parts of both versions, but it definitely wasn't the highlight of the evening for me. One cute thing about it though was that Morlot would take a seat at the back of the second violins while Tyzik was conducting, and play along with the orchestra.

After intermission, Jeff Tyzik, Ko-ichiro Yamamoto and Benjamin Lulich soloed as a trio in front of a conductor-less orchestra in the "Jelly Roll" Morton Suite. It was another jazz piece consisting of a few movements with odd names. I much preferred the St. Louis Blues.

Before beginning the work, Tyzik addressed the audience and commented, among other things, on how great the Seattle Symphony is for being able to play different genres of music. I wonder if this sort of insipid hogwash is actually taken seriously by anybody in the audience. I imagine even most of those not familiar with music understand that for trained musicians it's not a big deal at all; especially for classical musicians, who are backwards compatible with most other forms of music.

And finally, to cap off the concert, pianist Jon Kimura Parker soloed with the orchestra in Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Parker strolled on stage in incredibly high spirits, and in a highly animated manner shook the concertmaster's hand, took a bow and seated himself at the piano. Morlot was on the podium, and Benjamin Lulich kicked off the piece with the classic trill, upward scale and glissando on the clarinet, and thus began an excellent performance of Gershwin's masterpiece. Kimura Parker's playing was solid and compelling throughout, and the orchestra under Morlot's leadership was stellar.

After vivacious applause and a few returns to the stage, Parker played a short and jazzy encore, and following that, Tyzik took to the podium to conduct Auld Lang Syne, still featuring Parker on the piano. After one verse was finished, Morlot came on stage to conduct the audience in singing along, but after a few verses not many people had joined, and he appeared to give up and walked over to the piano to hang out with Parker.

In conclusion, I would say that it was a very well planned program with the exception of the Nutcracker antics. With the alternating of the classical and jazz versions it just got a little bit long, and it was one of the only lulls throughout the evening.

The orchestra sounded great, and the combination of more catchy 'classical' tunes and jazz made for a festive atmosphere. And of course, following the concert was the New Year's party in the Grand Lobby. A jazz band with a rather animated singer played mostly classic tunes, and people danced on the dance floor installed in the lobby for the occasion. All in all it was a fun night!

Next up is Bach's Coffeehouse on January 11th!

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