As the oboe player tuned the Moraine Valley Orchestra, the audience eagerly anticipated the director’s arrival to open the group’s spring concert – Juxtapositions.
Before lifting her baton, director Maryann Flock explained the premise of the performance aligned with the college’s One Book, One College selection – “The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia” – embodying the theme of opposites such as isolation versus connection, freedom against constraint, and utopian ideals versus dystopian realities.
“The first two pieces are hard on the ears. They are sound pieces. If you stay through those two, it’ll be light,” she noted.
Flock activated the 34-member orchestra to a building brass hum combined with persistent strings. A black-and-white image of a wedded couple appeared on screen above the musicians just before they segued into a familiar tune that accompanies couples down the aisle, all part of Richard Wagner’s “Lohengrin: Introduction to Act III and Bridal Chorus.”
Per Flock’s warning, that piece proved kinder on the ears than the next, “All or Nothing” by Molly Joyce, which truly lived up to its name. As soon as Flock waved her hand to begin, the orchestra invoked a guttural throb before the intermittent screech of the strings was punctuated by pockets of eerie silence. A wailing clarinet was met with dissonant reverberations from each corner of the stage as plucked stringed instruments, thumping French horns and clashing piano chords gave the sense that the notes were battling each other for attention. And just as quickly as the tune had started, it was finished.
“I know I’ll go home and have people tell me that was their favorite piece,” Flock joked. “Everyone can take a deep breath now; all bad things have been removed.”
However, the next piece, “Trail of Tears: for flute and chamber orchestra” was far from uplifting despite its melodic ambiance. Flock briefly shared the tragedy of the forced removal of Native Americans and the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which forced thousands of Cherokees to relocate during the winter. Although a sad premise, the ensuing songs provided a musical journey into how the human spirit handles adversity and upheaval, concluding with a reflective meditation on the loss of loved ones while inspiring hope for a better life in the world beyond.
Guest flutist and retiring Music professor, Tammi Carlson, was featured in “Trail of Tears,” using various playing techniques, such as rolling out the mouthpiece, to simulate Native American flute sounds. At times, she forced air across the flute opening and trilled with the strings supporting her vibrations. Her sad melody along with the distant sound of jangling bells transported the imagination to Native Americans trapsing across a cold, desolate and undeveloped U.S. during the early 1800s. As the orchestra drove to the final chords, Carlson sustained a shrill note above the group to punctuate the finale.
Following the thunderous applause, Flock sat at the electronic keyboard to play chords on the far side of the stage while opening “Requiem” with the wave of her hand. As she put it, “This is a rhythmic piece. It is joy juxtaposed with sadness and death.” The two bassists kept an under layer of beats, and after various violinists stood up for solos throughout the piece, the composition came to an abrupt end.
For an injection of the familiar and buoyant, the orchestra performed two sing-along’s that were not technically written as such, according to Flock. “Kiss the Girl” from the movie “The Little Mermaid” and “Highlights from Wicked” were accompanied by cues from Flock for the audience to sing, accentuated by a moment when only the drummer played as the musicians joined in to sing the “la, la, la, la” segment toward the end of the song “Popular.”
The final piece was a tragedy by Guiseppe Verdi, “La Forza del Destino: Sinfonia,” that Flock explained, “It’s not light, but it is captivating. I hope you can take a slice of it, any or all, with you.”
The arrangement vacillated between a lush collective sound and lightly instrumented sections, culminating with a whip of Flock’s hand to end the final build and conclude the concert.
