Symphony show has U.S. flair

The Spokane Symphony is calling Friday’s Opera House concert “Made in America.”

The program features music by George Gershwin, Christopher Rouse and Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Gershwin was a hit-maker whose name means “American music” to many audiences. And Rouse is one of the most frequently performed living American composers.

But how to explain the very Russian Rachmaninoff?

“Toward the end of his life, Rachmaninoff moved to the United States,” says the symphony’s associate conductor, Morihiko Nakahara, who will conduct the concert.

“And in 1940, just a few years before he died, he wrote his last important work, the ‘Symphonic Dances,’ here and it was premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra,” Nakahara says.

“Rachmaninoff was very popular in America both as a composer and as a performer, so those are the reasons we thought the ‘Symphonic Dances’ belonged on this program.”

Nakahara says he sees the concert as “a snapshot of compositional styles that have been popular in orchestral music in this country.

“The earliest piece we’re playing is Gershwin’s Concerto in F. That and his ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ were the first really successful examples of the infusion of vernacular styles in concert music. They were written in the ‘20s but they have remained popular ever since.”

The soloist for the Concerto in F is Norman Krieger, who has performed with major orchestras ranging from the Hong Kong Philharmonic to Turkey’s Presidential Symphony Orchestra.

Krieger, who was born in Los Angeles and received his music education in New York, London and Boston, is a member of the piano faculty at the University of Southern California. He has recorded a wide range of repertoire for several labels.

Nakahara sees Rachmaninoff as a major influence on Gershwin.

“When he was thinking about the structure of the concerto, a form he’d never written in before, I think he heard the examples of Rachmaninoff’s concertos, especially the way he handles the climaxes in the Concerto in F,” Nakahara says.

The symphony will open Friday’s concert with Rouse’s “Rapture.”

Rouse, who studied composition with George Crumb and Karel Husa, teaches composition at the Juilliard School in New York. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his Trombone Concerto in 1991 and a Grammy for his “Concert de Gaudi” in 2002.

“The Rouse ‘Rapture’ is definitely a contemporary work in its complex rhythmic structure and orchestration,” Nakahara says. “But ‘Rapture’ is also one of his most listenable pieces.

“When he wrote it in 2000 for the Pittsburgh Symphony, he was making change in direction from a whole series of his earlier pieces that had dealt with the theme of death – written as memorial pieces or written as a response to some tragedy.

“But with ‘Rapture,’ Rouse said in an interview that he wanted to ‘depict a progression to an ever more blinding ecstasy in a world devoid of darkness.’ The work is a long build-up that may remind some people of the way Ravel did it in ‘Bolero.’ ”

Along with the music on Friday’s concert, the symphony is kicking off its musical instrument drive.

“We’re encouraging those who come to the concert to donate musical instruments they no longer use for the benefit of students in the Spokane public schools who are not able to afford their own instruments,” says the symphony’s marketing director, Annie Matlow.

The instruments will be repaired free of charge by Amend Music Center and Violinworks. People who want to donate large instruments that might be awkward to bring to the concert can call Janet Napoles at the symphony office, 326-3136

“And we will give donors a coupon for free admission to a concert later in the season,” Matlow adds.

The symphony also will present Awards for Arts Advocate Administrators to Ferris High School Assistant Principal Robert Crabb and Regal Elementary School Principal Mallory Thomas.

Crabb and Thomas were selected by the symphony’s Music Education Committee based letters of nomination from District 81 music teachers.

Soloist Krieger will join host Verne Windham for a discussion of Friday’s concert at Classical Chats, the symphony’s pre-performance conversation, today at 12:15 p.m. in the council chambers at City Hall. The 30-minute program will be televised on City Channel 5.

Nakahara will discuss the music on Friday’s program as a part of the Gladys Brooks Pre-Concert Talks series in the Opera House auditorium at 7 p.m.

Because of the concert’s proximity to Valentine’s Day, the orchestra is offering a long-stemmed rose and a small box of chocolates for $10. Those interested should call the symphony ticket office at 624-1200.