The North State Symphony with Scott Seaton conducting. Photo by Rachel Hatch.
Scott Seaton didn’t take a bow on Sunday after wrapping up his inaugural season as director of the North State Symphony, but he did take a fall. Fortunately for all concerned, the energetic conductor popped right back up and led the orchestra through Rachmaninoff’s “Symphonic
Dances.”
Seaton’s tumble occurred during intermission as he was turning to relay a question to the orchestra (the questions were selected from text messages he had solicited from the audience). One second he was standing on a riser, the next he was sprawled on the Cascade Theatre stage.
Of course, if you take as many chances as Seaton does, the risk of a misstep increases.
Fortunately for the near-capacity audience that turned out on a pleasant Sunday afternoon, Seaton was exceptionally sure-footed when it came to guiding the orchestra through an ambitious program titled “Celebration Center Stage.”
Seaton’s derring-do was evident from the start with his selection of Mason Bates’ “Mothership” to open the concert. The spirited piece can best be described as a hybrid of classical and electronic music and it is entirely possible this was the first symphony performance in Redding that included a laptop computer among the instrumentation.
Themes of science fiction fantasy came to mind, interspersed with a syncopated, pulsing drum and spaces for brief improvised solos on the E-flat clarinet, violin, cello and other instruments. Bates, 39, is the composer-in-residence for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra who works as a DJ at night. His composition enjoyed a Web-based premiere by the YouTube Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House in 2011.
“Mothership” may have caught some classical music fans a bit off guard, but it was brisk, well received and indicative of Seaton’s sense of adventure.
Puccini’s “Preludio Sinfonico in A Major” saw the North State Symphony returning to slightly more familiar ground. The lush, sensual string arrangements, harp undertones and soft woodwinds provided a nice contrast to the opening piece.
Seaton closed out the first half of the concert with Beethoven’s “Leonore Overture No. 3” from the great composer’s only opera, “Fidelio.” The overture is a dramatic composition, and it was fun to watch Seaton tease out subtle nuances in one instance and then summon a brassy outburst in the next by gripping his baton like a bat and taking a mighty uppercut swing for the bleachers.
Earlier versions of the Leonore Overture were roundly criticized for overtaxing the woodwind players, yet sections of his third iteration appeared to put the entire orchestra to the test. The North State Symphony’s musicians were up to the challenge though and delivered a rousing version that ended with a satisfying flourish.
“Wasn’t that a fun piece,” Seaton asked as he wiped the sweat from his brow and invited each musician to stand for repeated rounds of applause. Seaton then asked for audience members to text questions that he would answer after the intermission. He told A News Cafe readers last week that he planned to continue the popular “Just Ask!” program next season.
Someone asked why the harpist doesn’t play more, to which principal harpist Candace LiVolsi jokingly replied, “because you can’t afford me.” She then explained that early composers tended to avoid the harp until advancements in its design, made after the French Revolution, brought the instrument into wider use.
Seaton introduced the afternoon’s final selection, Rachmaninoff’s “Symphonic Dances,” and noted it is “huge and fiery.” That turned out to be a prophetic description, and again the orchestra handled the tricky interplay of themes with aplomb and delivered a stirring performance that prompted one last standing ovation.
For more information, including details on the 2016-17 season, visit www.northstatesymphony.org
