Symphony gives daring, delicacy

Saturday night was a perfect example of why the Casually Classic series (formerly known as Symphony at The Met) is my favorite way to experience the Spokane Symphony.

The Met is less than a third the size of the INB Performing Arts Center, so many of us were sitting close enough to see the broken horsehair strands flying from cellist John Marshall’s bow.

Also, the musical selections tend to be just a touch more adventurous, which, in this case, meant that we were taken on a wild ride by Arnold Schoenberg.

Finally, conductor Eckart Preu routinely grabs the microphone to explain the background of a piece, as well as its quirks and oddities. In other words, Preu not only gives us something to listen to, he gives us something to listen for.

The audience received a bonus this weekend, because interim concertmaster William Harvey also handled one of the introductions, explaining with bubbling enthusiasm why he loved the Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra, the Schoenberg piece based on a work by George F. Handel.

This is not the easiest piece to love. Harvey had Marshall play a bit of Handel’s straightforward melody and then he had the string quartet demonstrate how Schoenberg took that melody and “totally obliterated it.” It sounded like a wildcat going berserk in a wire cage.

Yet Harvey helped us to understand, and revel in, that sonic excess. He explained that the word baroque is descended from a Portuguese word meaning “deformed pearl.”

“Well, it’s time to put the deformity back into that pearl,” he said, as they launched into the piece, which was by turns beautiful, crazy and exhilarating.

The rest of the concert was more melodic and graceful, which is what you would expect in a concert titled, “Vienna, City of My Dreams” (although Vienna was barely mentioned). Mozart’s Overture to “Titus” was jaunty and lighthearted and Haydn’s Symphony No. 88 was by turns stately and spritely.

The second movement of “Death and the Maiden,” composed by Franz Schubert and arranged by Gustav Mahler, was a heartbreaking ode to grief and acceptance, written just before Schubert’s death. Preu told us it was originally written for string quartet, but Mahler believed it would have even more impact with a string orchestra. Preu opted for the middle ground – a smaller string orchestra to preserve the intimacy of its chamber origins.

It worked. The quiet passages were heart-rending and full of feeling. Yet, when necessary, the orchestra’s hammer blows drove the message home.