Symphony edges away from tradition

The Spokane Symphony will forsake its more sedate venues Friday for an evening of clubbing at The Big Easy with the second of this season’s “Symphony on the Edge” concerts.

Don’t expect much rock, country, or rhythm ‘n’ blues in the orchestra’s final performance of the 2005-06 season, but be prepared for something out of the ordinary.

Music Director Eckart Preu has put together a program that begins with the regular symphony stuff – how much more regular can a classical concert get than the first movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony?

But from there, the music goes to hell – literally – with a visit to Heinrich Biber’s “Dissolute Company” of 17th-century soldiers in his “Sinfonia Ballalia,” then Bernard Herrman’s eerie, string-crazed score to Alfred Hitchcock’s film “Psycho,” finally descending to Del Aguila’s “Conga-Line in Hell.”

“That title may offend some people,” Preu says, “but it is really a good minimalist piece by a Uruguayan composer, and we certainly don’t get to hear many composers from Uruguay.”

The symphony’s marketing department stresses that this is a nonsmoking event. But concertgoers can expect some of the typical nightclub amenities such as liquid refreshments (alcoholic, if one meets the age requirement), rock concert lighting effects and video close-ups, and casual dress replacing the usual penguin-like orchestra attire.

Speaking of penguins, the Penguin from “Batman” will not be present, but Preu has programmed “Lex” from Michael Daugherty’s “Metropolis” Symphony in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Batman’s appearance in comic books.

“We did the full orchestra version of this last season,” Preu says, “but this is a much more unusual version for solo violin, four percussionists and bass. That instrumentation really makes for a very unusual effect.”

Another work with unusual instrumentation is Steve Reich’s “Clapping Music,” for two percussionists using instruments almost everybody has handy – their hands.

“This is a fascinating piece,” Preu says, “that shows that rhythm all by itself is music.”

And the symphony’s principal string bassist, Chang-Min Lee, will perform Paganini’s “Moses” Variations – a terror for violinists – several octaves lower on the string bass.

“I think this will give people an opportunity to learn just what a great player can do with this instrument that rarely has a solo,” Preu says.

The program also includes two American works from the time that jazz began to find its way into symphonic music.

James Reese Europe, who founded the first all-black orchestra to play music by black composers before the First World War, was also the music director for dancers Vernon and Irene Castle. Friday’s concert includes Gunther Schuller’s arrangement of Europe’s “Castle House Rag.”

George Antheil, Europe’s longer-lived contemporary, composed several jazz-influenced works during the 1920s. His “Jazz Symphony,” the piece the composer liked best and continued to revise until near the time he died in 1959, is also scheduled for Friday’s program.

While the symphony’s Opera House concerts start at 8 p.m., those planning to sample Friday’s mix of club life and classical music should note the earlier performance time of 7:30.