Youth Music Wows Us!

Not all of our youth today are totally absorbed with pop culture, text messaging and the latest teen fads. The proof of this was evident yesterday afternoon in Sunset Center Theater as Youth Music Monterey presented an impressive concert entitled “Festival of Light and Sound” under the direction of conductor John Larry Granger. Before a huge capacity audience of enthusiastic family members, friends and supporters, we heard music making on a very high level. Comparing the Youth Orchestra and Honors Orchestra of fifteen years ago to the present ensembles shows remarkable growth, not only in the orchestras themselves, but also in the local school programs from which most of these young musicians receive their earliest instruction.

The Youth Orchestra began the afternoon concert with some ambitious fare consisting of the traditional Hungarian Rákóczy March, Saint-Saëns Marche Militaire Française, Alfven’s Swedish Rhapsody and Festique by Daniels. Impressive ensemble playing and studious attention to musical details marked these performances, and the final selection by Daniels took the young musicians over the top to earn a well deserved and enthusiastic round of applause.

Something new this year was the Honor Brass Ensemble of Monterey County, a smaller ensemble, which performed rarely heard works by Gabrieli, Pezel and one piece, a Sonata from Die Bankelsangerlieder, by that ubiquitous composer of early music, ”Anonymous.” The three pieces we heard were surprisingly difficult in that they were involved with complex rhythmic patterns and thorny contrapuntal interplay between the instruments. The final work was the most successful of the three and received the most applause.

The concert ended with three selections performed by the Honors Orchestra, and it was impressive. As we listen to the Honors Orchestra we are always reminded that these near professional young musicians a few years ago were like the much younger players heard in the first half of the program. We were also hearing playing that would give credit to many a college or community orchestra, and every year that we hear the dedicated young musicians of Youth Music Monterey we recognize a steady and continuing growth of musical and technical mastery that bodes well for the future of symphonic music in the United States today.

On this occasion we heard the world premiere of the first movement of Stephen Tosh’s Symphony No. 2. Tosh has long been well known in our community for his talents as a pianist, arranger and composer and has written several symphonies. Speaking from the stage before the performance he told us that he retains a special fondness for his Symphony No. 2 for it reminds him of the profoundly moving experience of seeing for the first time the glorious scenic rolling hills of the coastal mountain range of central California near Paso Robles.

Because of his explanation that this work has strong emotional associations for him, we tended to hear this first movement as a kind of tone poem, but it turned out to be something more universal, for what we heard was an orchestra movement that could be heard entirely on its own, without any association of time or place, and still be quite meaningful. Tosh does not seem to be influenced by some of the late 20^th-century musical experiments, most of which unfortunately went nowhere, and thus we didn’t hear in this piece any violent ugliness, boring minimalism or obvious eclecticism. Tosh demonstrated in this work a fine skill of writing idiomatically for orchestra, and an even greater skill of drawing us into his music and into his world and holding our attention throughout. The beginning of his symphony was characterized by long musical lines displaying an irresistible lilt and charm, where for several minutes there was not a single rest to interrupt the flow of this sensuous music. Eventually the movement developed more rhythmic contrast, some fine woodwind writing and ended with a brief but effective coda.

A real treat for the audience followed Tosh’s symphony as violinist Adela Peňa appeared with the orchestra as soloist in the first movement of the Bruch Violin Concerto in G minor. A distinguished violinist with an illustrious career (and with strong ties to our community as a former pupil of Rochelle Walton), she wowed us with her big romantic tone and lots of romantic expression. As a role model for the aspiring young string players of the orchestra, she made a powerful impression.

The concert ended with a bit of Latin fluff, Teotlalli from Estampes Mexicanas by Elizondo. This piece had it all – Latin rhythms, maracas, nice percussion, and it was brief and to the point. Kudos to Maestro Granger, the wonderful young musicians and the magnificent support this effort is receiving from the community.