September 30, 2023
Oak Hill, Piedmont Park
Atlanta, Georgia – USA
“Concerts in the Park: A Season Celebration”
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
William R. Langley, conductor.
John WILLIAMS: “The Flight to Neverland” from Hook
Felix MENDELSSOHN: “The Hebrides” Overture
Nikolai RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Capriccio espagnol
Bedřich SMETANA: “The Moldau” from Má vlast (“My Fatherland”)
Arturo MÁRQUEZ: Danzón No. 2
Antonín DVORÁK: “Finale” from Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”)
John WILLIAMS: “Flying Theme” from E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
Mark Gresham | 4 OCT 2023
October’s bright blue weather arrived several days early, gracing the final week of September and offering up a brilliant azure sky on Saturday, September 30, one day after the Harvest Moon, when the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra performed a concert at Oak Hill in Piedmont Park, where thousands gathered on the lawn to hear the orchestra play for the first time under the direction of William R. Langley, the ASO’s new associate conductor and music director for the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra (ASYO).
A string orchestra subset of the Youth Orchestra played a program that preceded the ASO’s concert by one hour, conducted not by Langley but by Tamara Dworetz, the new music director of the Georgia Philharmonic, an orchestra based in Atlanta’s northern suburbs. Although I only caught the final notes of the ASYO performance, it is important to give a nod here to their 6:30 pm program, which included music by Mendelssohn, Bartók, Tchaikovsky, Bernstein, Montgomery, and Ginastera.
The ASO launched its part of the show at 7:30 pm with an audience participation piece: performing “Happy Birthday” to former US President Jimmy Carter, who turned 99 years old on Sunday, October 1. The musical greeting was recorded on video by The Carter Center, to be delivered on the next day to the globally esteemed humanitarian. ASO concertmaster David Coucheron led the orchestra, while Michael Devine, a member of the ASO Chorus, led the audience in singing “Happy birthday, dear Jimmy.”
Carter, who served as US president from January 1977 to January 1981, strongly supported the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, which performed a concert for his Presidential inauguration celebrations in DC, sharing the program with the National Symphony Orchestra. Carter is currently in hospice care after deciding to decline additional medical intervention in February.
Thousands filled the open lawn on Piedmont Park’s Oak Hill to hear the ASO perform on Saturday night at Piedmont Park. (credit: Greg Mooney)
The formal program that followed the Carter birthday greeting was intended to foreshadow some of the music they would touch upon in their 2023/24 subscription season concerts. Here’s how that playlist shakes out in that regard, along with their places in the subscription series:
- Felix Mendelssohn’s “The Hebrides” Overture. The ASO will play it again on April 18 & 20, 2024, with ASO music director Nathalie Stutzmann conducting.
- Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnol and Bedřich Smetana’s “The Moldau” will both be part of the October 25, 2023 special with violinist Joshua Bell, conducted by Peter Oundjian
- Arturo Márquez’ Danzón No. 2 will be heard again on April 25 & 26, 2024, when guest conductor Lina Gonzalez-Granados makes her ASO podium debut
- Antonín Dvorák: “Finale” from Symphony No. 9 will be presented again in the context of the complete “New World” Symphony on November 9 & 11, 2023, conducted by music director Nathalie Stutzmann.
Those classical concert selections were bookended by two excerpts from film scores by John Williams, opening the concert with “The Flight to Neverland” from Hook and concluding with the “Flying Theme” from E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. You almost cannot have a concert in a park without some Williams favorites, given their popularity and the composer’s nearly foolproof orchestration, which weathers the negatives of outdoor performance quite well.
The ASO will not play either film score excerpt in their subscription series. They will, however, perform Williams’ concerto, The Five Sacred Trees, on their November 30 and December 2 subscription concerts, featuring former principal bassoonist Andrew Brady (now principal bassoon of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra) as soloist and led by guest conductor Anthony Parnther (himself a veteran Hollywood bassoonist who has played on many of the Star Wars soundtracks)
In making his debut as ASO associate conductor, Langley credibly led the orchestra in rather straightforward performances of the program’s familiar middle-of-the-road classics and Williams endcaps. It’s hard to do more than that under the circumstances of an outdoor venue like Oak Hill. The audio technical team did support him with amenable amplification that was clear and balanced, even if a little bright at times, from my perspective not far from the stage; one would guess this also aided the sound in not being boomy or washed out for more distant listeners. Oak Hill remains the best location within Piedmont Park for this kind of concert.
Two possible future conductors in the lawn in front the orchestra emulate the gestures of ASO associate conductor William R. Langley. (credit: Greg Mooney)
As is the norm in these popular ASO Parks concerts, Langley interacted with the audience between numbers by speaking to them. He read his monologues off a hand-held script, and his delivery left the awkward impression that he did not write what he was reading. It seemed too artificial and confined. But he does come off as energized and optimistic, and I’ll wager he has the communicative skills not to have to do that in the future and to be more spontaneous with the audience. That would help a lot, even more than with a music director, as it is a necessary skill for associate conductors in the kinds of public programs and music-making they are typically called upon to lead.
The only really disappointing feature of the program itself was the absence of a particular tradition: ending these Parks concerts with John Philip Sousa’s iconic march, “The Stars And Stripes Forever.” I kept waiting through the several ovations for Langley to re-ascend the podium and lead it. But it never happened. Alas, some things change, even if we have no idea why. One hopes it was merely an oversight in this case, as the concert felt curiously incomplete without it. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
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- Atlanta Symphony Orchestra: aso.org
- William R. Langley: hwilliamrlangley.com
- Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra: aso.org/Education-And-Community/Atlanta-Symphony-Youth-Orchestra
li>Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra: aso.org/Education-And-Community/Atlanta-Symphony-Youth-Orchestra
Read more by Mark Gresham.
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