​This season, FM Symphony Orchestra gets personal

The Masterworks Concert Series put on by the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra during the 2015-2016 season was a real blockbuster, both literally and figuratively. Not only did several of the shows during that season sell out, but “Blockbuster” was the running theme. Whether referring to the numerous guest performers, the many well-known popular pieces, or the 150-piece choir for their stunning performance of Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana’, FM Symphony Orchestra executive director Linda Boyd said that they “kicked out the slats.”

She referred to their orchestral repertoire as their assets. “You have to be careful how to deploy them. With the Blockbuster Masterworks series the orchestra threw all those assets into one season, so the next question was, “How do you follow that?”

The answer is that you bring things back down to earth, starting this season with “The Great Romantics.” Even though this season may not necessarily be as bombastic as last, Boyd ensured that the audience will still be blown away and that not only would the newcomers drawn in by the last season enjoy this season, but so would newcomers. “It will be a wonderful experience in different ways,” said Boyd. She said it may not be a “crazy light show” like last season, but that it would be a little more “visceral,” and compared the experience to “being pulled into a barn dance.”

For an example of this sort of aesthetic, the program for this first performance will include the “Rumanian Rhapsody No. 1,” by Georges Enescu, a 20th century Romanian composer regarded as one of the most important musicians in Romanian history. In true keeping with his roots, Enescu’s piece is rooted in the folk music of his country, carrying a very personal feeling with it even while being played by a large orchestra.

The evening will also see the performance of a piece by the famous Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. While many people will be familiar with his work in such pieces as “The Nutcracker Suite,” “Swan Lake,” and “1812 Overture,” known for their theatricality, Boyd assured that the “Rococo Variations” that will be played this season are “not your typical Tchaikovsky.” This piece is “more lovely and refined” and meant as “a tip of the hat” to one of Tchaikovsky’s favorite composers, the immortal Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. “This piece easily could have been a Mozart tune,” said Boyd.

Last but not least, the evening will feature “Symphony No. 2,” by fellow Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. Despite being truly appreciated now for what Boyd called a “true romantic heart,” in his days in turn-of-the-century Russia during the upheavals that would define its 20th century history, he always felt underappreciated.

Instead of spending his time and energy with the newer, more exciting composers that were drawing the public’s attention, such as Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (“Flight of the Bumblebees,” “Scheherazade”), he admired the older musicians Russia had to offer, such as Modest Mussorgsky (“Night on Bald Mountain,” “Pictures at an Exhibition”). As such, his work was often written off by the movers and shakers in Russian society as too old-fashioned, and Boyd suggests that he was actually ahead of his time.

The evening will also feature the talents of Russian cellist Sergey Antonov, winner of the gold medal at the 2007 Tchaikovsky competition. This will be his second guest performance with the FM Symphony Orchestra, having performed with them just a couple of years ago.

Boyd said that rarely do guest composers return so quickly, but that when the planning for this season was going on with conductor Christopher Zimmerman, Antonov’s name quickly came up as a performer for the evening. The young man, despite being incredibly talented and carrying a resume that any classical musical performer would be jealous of, is very affable and friendly, and when recalling his performance of Sir Edward Elgar and how it held the audience enraptured, he seemed like the only natural choice.

This show is going to be the first of five this season that will see the showing of a more personal side of the FM Symphony Orchestra compared to last. But while the pieces may not have all the theatricality and bombastic quality of a “Carmina Burana” or a “West Side Story,” they are still very much guaranteed to bring people into the seats and give them an evening they will remember.

IF YOU GO:

The Great Romantics featuring Sergey Antonov

September 24, at 7:30 and 25, at 4:30

NDSU Festival Concert Hall and Beckwith Recital Hall

12th Ave. N and Bolley Drive, Fargo