Arts & Culture Magazine - November/December 2007 - (Page 37)

Arts & Culture Magazine : : PERFORMING ARTS ‘07 can feel the visceral connection that provides a galvanizing energy to spur musicians on in their performance. Bjaland takes a philosophical approach to his programming. “Music is such a miraculous thing and I don’t think anyone has ever really quantified its effect upon the human mind and spirit.” Unlike a musical short-order cook who plugs in Brahms, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky in response to public demand, Bjaland is a deeply dedicated architect of a season in which the energetic end result of the works on any given program far exceed the simple sum of their parts. Even more so, the seven concerts of the Masterwork series are a masterpiece of architectural structure. “I think every season has to have an element of a journey, a place to go spiritually during the course of the concerts we present,” shares Bjaland. “This season we have a counterpoint to this journey in Martin Goldsmith’s book, The Inextinguishable Symphony, which tells the story of his parents, both musicians in Nazi Germany, and how their lives were literally and figuratively saved by the music they performed.” The book details the couple’s love story as well as the plight of Jewish musicians facing death during the 1930s all while entertaining the Nazi elite at well-attended orchestra concerts by the all-Jewish Kulturbund orchestra. Bjaland points out that the season highlights works that were featured in the book, such as Carl Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4, The Inextinguishable, after which the book was titled. Written at the outset of World War I, it is characteristically full of conflict and drama; but at its core, there is a sense that the vitality of life is inextinguishable and no matter what humanity subjects itself to, it will survive. This music, and the entire season, is a metaphor for this survival and a great message of hope. “Music throughout the season shares a sense of spiritual awakening, optimism and that by facing adversity we can reach some ultimate and exalted goals,” says Bjaland. Gustav Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony, on the final program of the season, is a perfect example. “This is a titanic piece that starts with a funeral march and progress through levels of consciousness. We get an idyllic slow movement, a scherzo and then an epic movement that pictures the final judgment and wrenching music describing the agony of the damned. Then at the end, an amazing choral section says ‘Rise up, be reborn,’” he adds with a sense of awe. “That’s really the culmination of an entire series of concerts that shares the message, ‘You can be reborn through art, through music.’” Not even Steve Jobs would promise that your iPod could bring salvation, so consider stepping away from the musical umbilical cord and hook up with some of the live music offered in the Florida West Coast Symphony’s Masterworks series. Concerts performed at the following venues: Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trl. and Neel Auditorium, 5840 26th St. W., Bradenton. Call the Box Office at 941.953.3434 or visit www.fwcs.org for more information. arts and culture magazine : : 61 http://www.fwcs.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Arts & Culture Magazine - November/December 2007

Arts & Culture Magazine - November/December 2007 Contents Extra! Extra! Modern Times Gallery Interview - Jopseph Caulkins Exhibitions Dodi Reifenberg and Bradley Wester Profiles Center Stage Carnevale Horse Feathers Grill & Lounge Dancing on the Stage of Life Gallery Guide Calendar of Events

Arts & Culture Magazine - November/December 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.