The Portland Symphony Orchestra opened its 2011-2012 season with three crowd-pleasers, including a work written in 1985 – Michael Torke’s “Bright Blue Music,” which led off a program that included Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73 (“Emperor”) and Brahms Symphony No. 4 in E-minor, Op. 98.
“Bright Blue Music” is a cheerful, repetitive piece in D-major, which is related to the color blue. The orchestration is complex, without being particularly skillful, and the traditional tonality leads to a large number of passages familiar to anyone acquainted with the 100 Top Hits of Classical Music. It lasted nine minutes and ended on a solo high note.
Considerably more interesting was pianist Awadagin Pratt’s sometimes quirky but always fascinating interpretation of the Emperor Concerto, which earned a standing ovation that for once was entirely deserved.
Christopher Hyde is a writer and musician who lives in Pownal. He can be reached at:
classbeat@netscape.net
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.