Obsession is in Vogue: The DSSO’s Torrid February Affair with Mendelssohn and Berlioz

by Emerson Sloane

On a frigid Saturday night, on the first day of February, the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra filled Symphony Hall with the sounds of a torrid love affair with a trio of Obsession-themed works, for a divine night of raw emotion heating up the air beside a frozen lake. The program began with a gorgeous and tempting amuse bouche to get the senses primed.

I'm most definitely a fan of the occasions when the orchestra incorporates modern compositions into its program. Michael Daugherty, one of the most performed of contemporary American composers, began his Metropolis Symphony in 1988 as a love letter to Superman. Red Cape Tango is the fifth and final movement of the symphony. Gloriously, Daugherty composed the symphony so that any of the movements may be performed independently.

It's an effervescent 13-minute piece of music, leading masterfully with a bassoon, one of my favorite moody instruments. There are luminous notes of light with the darkness of the piece, played out with a tango of notes. Dirk Meyer coaxes measured exuberance from a revved up string section. The iconography of Superman is felt in the horns and trumpets. In this amuse-bouche of music, the audience feels the American intersections of jazz, funk, and rock within the parameters of a finely tuned symphony orchestra, culminating in a climbing timpani finale.

I've written about Erin Aldridge numerous times for publication. Any chance to hear and see her as a featured soloist with the orchestra results in a visceral experience. Her bow technique during Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E-minor, Opus 64 was no exception. It's a glorious tribute to the Romantic Era, as the composer's last great work. And it's a work masterfully suited to Aldridge's violin. The violin concerto climbs immediately with an impassioned and haunting allegro, which Erin skillfully uses as a tool to bring the rest of the orchestra into the fever with her. This piece is an undying love letter for the strings in the orchestra. And this orchestra caresses the notes to life not just with prevision, but with verve.

The second movement cools with a bassoon and the mood transition is palpable. Mendelssohn's blending of emotions through the music takes the audience through its paces. The thread of the violin is woven gorgeously throughout. Accompanying me for the night, local filmmaker, Caelan Mars, a composer, pianist, and lover of classical music remarked during intermission that it seemed like Aldridge was playing two instruments at once. Erin’s technique and embodiment of her instrument make every note a living thing. Even setting aside the origin story of the child with perfect pitch at conservatory, nobody can deny that the concertmaster of the DSSO is a vessel of the masters and a force that breathes life into every note intentionally like a lover. A standing ovation for Aldridge and the orchestra at the conclusion of the concerto affirmed that.

The evening concluded with another icon of the Romantic Era, Symphonie Fantastique by the French composer Hector Berlioz. It's a seminal symphony of the era. Leonard Bernstein described it as psychedelic, testifying to not just its majesty, but its hallucinatory prowess.

I think this symphony truly captures the "Obsession" theme of the night. The music tells the fate of an artist who poisons himself with opium because of unrequited love. For the DSSO, this performance is rich with instumentation. And Meyer leads the orchestra bravely and with determination into each of the impassioned five movements. twisting deftly from gentle string vignettes to pounding bass moods with clarity and finely attuned to the storyline. In the fourth movement, there's a gorgeous clarinet solo. In the fifth movement, always my favorite of the symphony, an eerie and palpable convergence of flutes and oboes from the stage capture a mood that wraps around the walls and settles into the air in Symphony Hall. Chimes punctuate the air in an ecclesiastical drama. Bass drums and trumpets bring the entire story to a rousing and memorable conclusion.

The Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra proves again and again its ability to harness the incredible and transformative power of its musicians and their instruments. Three selections of memorable obsessions drew out the passion in the compositions sending the hall into multiple storylines that resonated with grand style.