Season’s best

A sure cure for the summer blues



Atlanta is a classical music ghost town during the summer months — that is, except for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Summer Series, a limited run squeezed around its more lucrative pops concerts at Chastain Park.

There are reasons for this, of course. Outside the ASO, many of the city’s music venues are connected to a college or university, which certainly isn’t going to staff a concert hall during summer vacation. And independent performance groups have learned from past experience that Atlantans take off for the lake or head to the hills on the flimsiest excuse. Nobody stays around for summer in this city, if they can help it.

Since the end of the ASO season always signals a shut-down for every other venue as well, it’s a good time to review the past year — a year of transitions, with new conductors Robert Spano and Donald Runnicles taking the podium at Symphony Hall, and a year of edginess, with plummeting ticket sales for every arts venue after Sept. 11.

But since these issues have already been covered in this column, I have instead compiled a somewhat arbitrary Best-Of list of the season’s highlights.

Most Controversial, Talked-About Concert. Definitely a toss-up between Vaughan Williams’ hugely anticipated “Sea Symphony” last fall — which the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra “enhanced” with video images that were not to everyone’s liking — and the Atlanta International Piano Competition this spring. The latter precipitated talk about some of the judges having taught some of the finalists — actually a common, inescapable situation in these types of contests. To many in the audience, however, the biggest controversy concerned the judges’ final selection of the ultimate winner.

Most Sold-Out Performance by a Legend. Also a toss-up, between cellist Yo-Yo Ma’s “Silk Road” recital of world music and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich’s 75th birthday concert, both held at Symphony Hall. Ma’s recital also wins the award for Best Last-Minute Booking; because of the airport closings and travel chaos immediately after Sept. 11, the cellist was unable to fulfill some of his international dates and opted to perform in Atlanta instead.

Biggest News That Will Probably Make the Least Difference. The Atlanta Opera announcing its move from the Fox Theatre to the Atlanta Civic Center, thereby shifting the company from one barn to another. Both venues are noted for acoustical and sightline problems. Legendary Metropolitan Opera impresario Rudolf Bing actually mentioned the Atlanta Civic Center in his autobiography — with marked distaste. But in this town, where else is the Atlanta Opera to go?

Classiest Act. Jazz artist Cleo Laine at Spivey Hall. At seventysomething, she’s still the best in the business.

Best Managerial Decision. Getting the ASO Chorus out of those electric-blue church robes — after so many decades — and dressing them in elegant black. Kudos to whomever was responsible.

Worst Managerial Decision. As usual, the Atlanta media wins, hands-down, for ignoring the Atlanta arts scene as much as they could. In a town where, every weekend, Frisbee-catching dog championships are covered, events such as the Atlanta International Piano Competition received no mention whatsoever on local television news.

Best Homecoming Moment. Composer and Atlanta resident Alvin Singleton taking the stage when the ASO performed his “PraiseMaker” after 12 years of shameless neglect by the hometown orchestra.

Best Performance That Everyone Missed. Soprano Susan Dunn, once a favorite soloist under Robert Shaw, whose return to Atlanta after more than a decade’s absence filled two rows to capacity at Emory’s Performing Arts Studio — a reminder of what short memories Atlanta concert-goers have.

Most Over-the-Top, Irresistible Patriotic Moment. This one belongs to pianist Lang Lang, who after taking everyone’s breath away in Prokofieff’s Third Piano Concerto with the ASO, encored his performance with the piano rendition (seemingly scored for 10 hands but played by only two) of Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever,” made famous by pianist Vladimir Horowitz. Since Horowitz’s death, this piece is rarely heard — primarily because nobody can play it.

Most-Deserved Standing Ovation. See previous entry.

Most Ambitious Musical Undertaking. The ASO’s performance of Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem,” a work that makes strong men cry. Under the direction of conductor Donald Runnicles, the combined forces of the orchestra, chorus and soloists acquitted themselves admirably in a dignified — if not a mesmerizing --performance.

During the long, dusty summer months, while the cobwebs are forming in Atlanta’s concert halls, it’s good to be reminded of some of the things we have to look forward to next season. There’s the long-awaited Atlanta Opera debut of internationally acclaimed baritone Richard Bernstein this fall, as well as the opening of the new performing arts center at Emory in February.

But from now until September, it’s a good time to re-stock that CD collection.??