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Reviews

Sunday, 17 July 2005—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Review of Atlanta Symphony "Made in America Series" concert
By Pierre Ruhe

Laura Jackson conducts ASO

CONCERT REVIEW

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Saturday in Symphony Hall. Part of the summer “Made in America” series, which continues July 21-23. www.atlantasymphony.org.

Before discussing conductor Laura Jackson’s winning weekend with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra — a high-profile debut, of sorts — it is worth noting a milestone in American music.

Last week, The Baltimore Sun reported that its hometown orchestra will likely appoint Marin Alsop as music director — the first female to take charge of a major U.S. orchestra.

Jackson, who has studied with the glass ceiling-shattering Alsop, is still in the beginning stages of her career. Educated as a violinist, Jackson has experience conducting student and amateur ensembles.

Now 37, she’s rounding out her first season as the ASO’s conducting fellow, part of a three-year training program. While in Atlanta her duties include leading ASO youth concerts and various parks events. She is also the “cover” for main-season concerts, prepared to step in at the last minute if the scheduled conductor gets sick. She also joins in administrative talks, learning the realities of running an orchestra. This intensive experience, hopefully, will launch Jackson on her own high level career — the next Marin Alsop, perhaps.

Saturday evening, for a Symphony Hall concert devoted to George Gershwin, Jackson proved wonderfully fluent on the podium and, at her best, an imaginative and sophisticated interpreter.

Since a conductor does not play an instrument on stage, her artistry lies in the psychological devices — blunt or subtle — necessary to get almost 100 musicians to obey her will.

She had firm control of “An American in Paris,” Gershwin’s jazzy, 1928 travelogue of boulevard excitement and honking taxi horns. Although her nose sometimes seemed buried in the score, Jackson used minimal movements to coax maximum expression. I liked her handling of the “blues” section, swinging low and agreeably louche.

Best of the evening was the Overture to “Girl Crazy,” the 1930 Broadway musical that introduced Ethel Merman belting out “I Got Rhythm.” The conductor got crisp playing from the orchestra, snappy, sassy and just right.

“Rhapsody in Blue” didn’t come off as well, largely because pianist Andrew von Oeyen indulged in low-grade romantic excess at the keyboard. (Hasn’t he heard the edgy, jazz-age modernism of Gershwin’s own player-piano recordings? The music has to move .) Despite the electricity of the music, von Oeyen emitted a very weak signal.

The evening closed with “Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture,” which is Robert Russell Bennett’s medley of tunes from Gershwin’s opera, with thick squirts of added syrup. It bears repeating: the Tin Pan Alley genius is best played as a lean, colorful modernist — closer to the brilliance of Ravel than to the bland kitsch of Hollywood. Sadly, Bennett’s 1943 arrangement is standard in the concert hall. Someone needs to commission a version that is more true to the composer’s spirit.

For her part, Jackson seemed to work against Bennett’s homogenization. She gave definition to each “Porgy” number, with a unique profile for “It Ain’t Necessarily So” and “Summertime.” The orchestra was at its multi-tasking best. Michael Moore, a double-threat musician, put down his tuba to play banjo for “I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’.”

Still, thanks largely to Jackson’s nimble and smart understanding of Gershwin, the evening amounted to a superb “debut” for this young conductor. Under the baton of a lesser conductor, the show might have seemed like a glorified pops concert. Jackson helped elevate Gershwin to the master status he deserves. I’m eager to hear more from her.