In the penultimate entry of the 2023-24 season, Pittsburgh Symphony Music Director Manfred Honeck led his orchestra in a generously-filled program, anchored by Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. Though an evening’s worth of music in its own right, the Mahler was ambitiously and imaginatively prefaced with two contemporary works, the latter of which received its world premiere Friday night.
Jessie Montgomery’s Coincident Dances was composed in 2017 on commission from the enterprising Chicago Sinfonietta. It draws inspiration from the panoply of musical styles one might hear simply strolling through the culturally diverse neighborhoods of New York City. The work began quite unusually in the double bass alone, amassing energy and vigor as the brightly scored orchestra joined in. Montgomery utilized a colorful percussion section, and a jazzy trumpet evidenced the contrasting traditions drawn upon, often interlocking through intricate polyrhythms.
Michael Daugherty has had a long and fruitful relationship with the Pittsburgh Symphony, with Songs of the Open Road counting as his fourth PSO commission. Daugherty’s conception embodied a very literal, physical journey, depicting a road trip across the United States. Each of the six movements represented a scenic location of significance to the composer or the dedicatees of this double concerto, PSO principals Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida (oboe) and William Caballero (horn).
The trip began in Big Sur, radiating the warmth of the sun-drenched California coast with a pleasing, harmonious conversation between the soloists. Venturing eastward to the Continental Divide, a brief but blistering movement used an angular theme to paint the jagged peaks of the Rockies. At Sleeping Bear Dunes, the horn was initially offstage, answered by a mournful oboe, depicting a tranquil scene on Lake Michigan, though with undertones of the tragic tale from which the dunes are named. Desilu took us to Jamestown, New York, birthplace of Lucille Ball. Oboe and horn were joined front of stage by two percussionists, with light-hearted material that captured in musical terms the hijinks of Ball and Desi Arnaz.
Blue Ridge drew out the resonant beauty of the forested Virginia landscape, and the trip concluded in Key West, a finale imbued with Cuban rhythms to bring the work to a raucous close. Songs of the Open Road made for an enjoyable listen with the unusual blending of horn and oboe, though when taken as a whole, it meandered a bit – but wasn’t that the point?
For Mahler, the journey is a more philosophical one, with the Fifth following an archetypal trajectory from darkness to light. Though very much in the wheelhouse of Honeck and the PSO, Friday night’s performance didn’t quite measure up to expectation, perhaps getting ironed out over the weekend’s subsequent performances. The iconic trumpet solo that opened was answered by the rest of the orchestra in a plunge to the abyss, dark and lugubrious, though the pacing was at times a bit hard to follow, and the impact marred by technical mishaps.
But the orchestra found its stride amidst the strife of the Stürmisch bewegt, and the symphony’s elaborate Scherzo was rustic and carefree, with Honeck’s Austrian heritage giving an authentic lilt. In no way fatigued from his concerto appearance, Caballero gave the extended horn solo with amber warmth, a level of playing regrettably not matched by the rest of the brass section. Honeck took the Adagietto perhaps a tad slower than that, but it was still more lovesong than dirge, a moment of stillness before the brilliance of the finale in which the intricate latticework of the strings built a foundation for its exuberant conclusion.
