March 20 & 22, 2025
Atlanta Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center
Atlanta, Georgia – USA
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; Robert Spano, conductor; Elisabeth Remy Johnson, harp.
Aaron COPLAND: Appalachian Spring (Suite for full orchestra, 1945)
Jennifer HIGDON: Harp Concerto
Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Symphony No. 5 in D major
Mark Gresham | 22 MAR 2025
In his first of two weeks of concerts this season with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, music director laureate Robert Spano led the orchestra in a program featuring American and British works by Aaron Copland, Jennifer Higdon, and Ralph Vaughan Williams at Symphony Hall on Thursday evening.
Robert Spano (credit: Jason Thrasher)
Spano, who was the ASO’s music director for 20 years, became music director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in the summer of 2022 and has since added several additional titles to his resume: He was appointed music director of the Washington National Opera early last year and as music director designate led an acclaimed performance of Beethoven’s Fidelio with the company in the fall; his three-year term begins with the upcoming 2025-26 season. He was also appointed as principal conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic and Music School in 2024 for one season and will continue as principal guest conductor with them this fall. Spano also continues his role as music director of the Aspen Music Festival and School, a post he has held since 2011.
Thursday night’s concert opened with one of the most celebrated works in American classical music, Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, in the 1945 suite for full orchestra. Originally composed for a chamber orchestra of 13 as a ballet for Martha Graham, the orchestral suite distills the score’s essence into a concert form for the larger ensemble.
However, this performance began with a little feeling of uncertainty, although Spano brought it quickly in line and ensured a sense of balance, drawing a lean American sound from the orchestra. Unfortunately, the interpretation felt restrained and struggled to capture the full spark and vitality of its dance origins. Moments that should have sparkled with energy and lift came across as earthbound; although individual moments of warmth and clarity emerged, the overall reading never fully ignited as it ought.
The performance took a stronger turn with Jennifer Higdon’s Harp Concerto, featuring the ASO’s longtime principal harpist, Elisabeth Remy Johnson, who took an unusual stage position for a soloist to Spano’s right, near the cellos. This was the first ASO performance.
Although it is admittedly not my favorite Higdon composition, the Harp Concerto is a work that exemplifies her skillful orchestration and natural affinity for instrumental color, scored in a manner that ensures the solo instrument remains central, rather than being overwhelmed by the ensemble, and highlights the harp’s expressive range.
Jennifer Higdon, composer. (credit: (J. Henry Fair)
Johnson navigated her solo part with authority and elegance. While characteristic of Higdon, the first two movements were not the most captivating or adventurous of the bunch. The third movement, arguably the most compelling section of the concerto, played to the harp’s strengths by incorporating dialogues with small instrumental groups, evoking an impressionistic, Debussy-like transparency of chamber music. With its colorful percussion and rhythmic vitality, the final movement built to a grand conclusion, the one place where the harp was, indeed, briefly overpowered. Johnson and Spano maintained a strong rapport throughout.
The highlight of the evening was Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 5 in D major, a work that stands in stark contrast to the composer’s turbulent Fourth Symphony. Here, we finally experienced Spano at his best with the ASO. Spano, whose affinity for this repertoire is well established, delivered a reading that balanced the symphony’s dreamlike lyricism with a clear structural vision. The orchestration, which can easily become dense and murky in the wrong hands, remained luminous and transparent under his direction even as the ASO responded with remarkable warmth and cohesion.
The strings, particularly the violins, played with precision and unity, their sound golden and expressive. With its rhythmic interplay and shifting harmonic colors, the second movement retained a buoyant energy without becoming weighty. In the “Romanza” third movement, one of the symphony’s most poignant movements, the woodwinds and strings wove a seamless tapestry of sound, capturing the music’s depth. The final “Passacaglia” unfolded with unhurried inevitability, leading to a radiant conclusion that felt both expansive and intimate in its final moments. Spano and the ASO musicians delivered an utterly exquisite performance, bringing the evening to a satisfying close.
And one great additional note: the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) has been holding its “National Orchestra Festival 2025” this week down at the Hyatt Recency Hotel (March 19-22), and a large number of middle school and high school string players who came with their school orchestras from around the country for the festival, were present at Symphony Hall on Thursday for the concert. It’s absolutely fabulous that they got to hear it.
The final performance of this program takes place tonight at Symphony Hall (March 22). Spano returns to the ASO podium next week to lead a concert of music by Sibelius, Scriabin, and Rimsky-Korsakov, with pianist Jae Hong Park, winner of the 2021 Busoni International Piano Competition, as soloist. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Atlanta Symphony Orchestra: aso.org
- Robert Spano: robertspanomusic.com
- Elisabeth Remy Johnson: elisabethremy.com
Read more by Mark Gresham.
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