Flute concerto premieres

The infamous “Trail of Tears” has gone down as one of the darkest episodes in American history.

In the winter of 1838, about 15,000 Cherokee Indians were forcibly relocated from Tennessee to Oklahoma. More than 4,000 men, women and children died from exposure and disease.

That tragic march served as the inspiration for “Trail of Tears,” composer Michael Daugherty's new flute concerto. Its world-premiere performance was Friday night at the Holland Performing Arts Center, courtesy of flutist Amy Porter and the Omaha Symphony.

Daugherty, one of the world's pre-eminent composers of concert music, has written a piece that is both audaciously contemporary and appealingly romantic.

His score is full of modernistic effects –– bent pitches and aggressively fluttering harmonics –– that would sound right at home in a Bartok concerto. But his piece also includes the sort of drop-dead gorgeous melodies that you might expect to hear in the music of Samuel Barber.

The three-movement concerto lasts about 22 minutes and is programmatic, meaning it is meant to be a kind of sonic narrative. Daugherty's tale proves to be thoughtful, sensitive and imaginative.

The first movement is called “Where the Wind Blew Free,” from a quote of Geronimo's. The idea is that when you are dislocated from your home, you don't just beat your chest in anguished emotion. You think of a better time and place –– where the wind blew free. So Daugherty loads his opening with beautiful, haunting, nostalgia-inducing melodies.

This movement is largely episodic. It opens with a brief flute solo brimming with bent pitches, which, the composer explained during pre-performance remarks, serve as a bridge between classical and Native American flute playing. After the orchestra enters with bright, sumptuous music, the flute goes on a journey, with the flutist playing aggressive, Jethro Tull-like flutters, romantic melodies, bouncy staccato passages and finally a trudging, wrenching march.

The second movement, called “Incantation,” is an extended musical meditation that builds to a transcendent climax. It is the sonic equivalent of a peyote-induced epiphany.

The finale, called “Sun Dance,” is a virtuoso romp that includes, among other things, vertiginous solo passagework and a memorable duel between flute and tom-tom.

The concerto could not have had a more auspicious debut. Porter, a charismatic performer, was focused, flexible and intensely in the moment. She tossed off fiendishly difficult passages as if they were child's play and performed lyrical passages with heart-rending emotion.

Music director Thomas Wilkins and the Omaha Symphony provided supple and sensitive support. For their efforts, Daugherty, Porter, Wilkins and the orchestra received an extended ovation.

Friday's concert also included the music of Dvorák and Brahms. It's nearly impossible to spoil Dvorák's Carnival Overture, which opened the program. It's a straightforward, celebratory piece, and the orchestra gave it a sparkling, virtuosic reading.

Wilkins and the orchestra got Brahms' Symphony No. 1 in C minor, the blockbuster of the evening, exactly right. Brahms sweated over this symphony for 20 years –– he was intimidated by Beethoven –– and came up with one of the orchestra world's most remarkable pieces.

There isn't a true fast movement in it –– his tempo markings are all modified by terms such as “sostenuto” (sustained) and “non troppo” (not too much). Wilkins heeds these instructions.

He allows the orchestra to linger and brood in the first movement, building up enormous tension. He treats the inner movements –– Andante sostenuto and Un poco Allegretto e grazioso –– as affecting intermezzos.

The finale, a triumph of bright C major over dark C minor, flowed inexorably to a glowing, transcendental climax. The finale alone was worth the price of admission.

Contact the writer:

444-1076, john.pitcher@owh.com

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