The past, present and future of classical music was on display Sunday at the Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s concert at the Collins Center for the Arts in Orono in a rich tapestry of sound that won’t be forgotten any time soon.
The eclectic program, titled “Pride to Prejudice: Shostakovich 5” and led by Lucas Richman, music director and conductor, featured music from this century and the last as young musicians performed alongside seasoned professionals.
Keith Fitch’s “Mirrors,” composed in 2024 after he was the recipient of the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation Composer Award, featured one of the largest and most diverse percussion sections on stage during Richman’s 15 years at the podium. Five musicians played a plethora of instruments that ranged from snare and bass drums to cymbals and xylophone to slapper and bamboo wind chimes.
The piece is divided into three movements — Winter Sun, Half-Moon and Ruth’s Zowie, named for a 1957 painting by Willem de Kooning. Fitch, who teaches composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music, said in the program notes that “Mirrors” is about the idea of reflection, either literally or figuratively.
“The first movement, ‘Winter Sun,’ was initially inspired by those winter days when the clouds part, allowing the sun to brilliantly reflect off the snow and ice,” he said. “‘Half-Moon’ is a kind of ‘night music’ in which one of my compositional heroes, Bela Bartok, so excelled.”
The final movement is a musical reflection on de Kooning’s “abstract explosion of color and gesture. … Marked ‘raucous,’ the movement is a wild orchestral romp, full of quick changes and unexpected interruptions and outbursts,” the composer said.
“Mirrors” is very modern compared to the previous Ellis-Beauregard Foundation winner. Nathan Shields’ “Peregrine” awed the audience last year with its musical images that evoked Acadia National Park and Maine’s rocky coast. The piece was a dynamic contrast to the 20th century offerings that are solidly in the traditional classical music canon. At times Fitch’s work sounded like the mirror the audience stood before was one with curved glass in a carnival funhouse that distorts images.
The concert opened with members of the Bangor Symphony Youth Orchestra, the next generation of classical musicians, joining professionals on stage for Edward Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1.” The tradition of playing a section of the piece for high school and college graduations began at 1905 commencement at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
The audience enthusiastically applauded the collaboration. Richman has been credited with reviving the youth orchestra program during the early part of his 15-year tenure. Several members of the BSO began their careers with the youth orchestra, Richman said at the concert.
Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 sent concertgoers out the doors of the Collins Center in a euphoric mood. The Russian composer’s career was blossoming in the 1930s until Joseph Stalin labeled him “an enemy of the people,” according to the program notes.
The symphony, which premiered to great acclaim in 1937, was a triumph but it also held a subversive subtext in the final movement that Shostakovich described in later life as “an irreparable tragedy.” He called the rejoicing “forced, created under threat.”
Richman and the musicians on Sunday captured all the composer’s suppressed rage and the suffering Russians endured under Stalin along with the soothing beauty and joy of music that enriches the soul. The symphony’s stunning interpretation of the work will not soon be forgotten.
Before Richman took up his baton Sunday, the BSO Board of Directors acknowledged his 15 years as maestro with an appreciation award. Last year, the symphony extended Richman’s contract through June 2029.
Sunday’s concert will be available for streaming beginning Friday through April 11 at watch.bangorsymphony.org.
