Concert to showcase classical core
Sinfonietta will cover 3 centuries of music
Fans of Gregorian chant or electronic music may find the range in Saturday's concert by the Lexington Sinfonietta narrow, but for most others, there's more than enough musical territory to cover.
''This program represents three centuries that form the heart of the active repertoire" of classical music, said conductor and violinist James Buswell. ''I think a concert without a 20th-century work is somehow lacking, but all too common -- which is sad, because we're already in the 21st century."
The first half of the program consists of J.S. Bach's Violin Concerto in E Major, a baroque landmark from around 1720, and Schubert's Symphony No. 2, which was written nearly a century later and bridges the classical and romantic eras.
Buswell said he has sometimes been identified with Bach's music, having performed, conducted, and lectured on the topic, and hosted the 1990 documentary ''The Stations of Bach." He also has carved out a healthy niche in 20th-century music, performing world premieres of composers ranging from Gian Carlo Menotti to Ned Rorem and Gunther Schuller. Buswell received a 2003 Grammy nomination for his recording of Samuel Barber's Violin Concerto, and is on the faculty of Gordon College in Wenham and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.
The second half of Saturday's concert offers an even wider contrast in eras and moods, with Mozart's ''Haffner" Symphony and Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No. 2.
While the Boston Symphony Orchestra is about to start a Schoenberg cycle, Schoenberg in the suburbs remains a rarity. Synopses of his career almost invariably start by mentioning serialism, in which the increasing harmonic complexity through the 19th century leads to atonal music that treats the 12 tones of the chromatic scale equally and resists Western music's gravitational pull toward the tonal centers in major and minor scales.
Serialist works such as his ''Five Pieces for Orchestra" can be puzzling for listeners, but that's mainly because they don't hear the music very often, said Sabine Feisst, an assistant professor of music history and literature at Arizona State University.
''I am always trying to reverse the cliche that Schoenberg's music is inaccessible and dissonant and ugly," said Feisst, who coordinated an international Schoenberg conference last March and is writing a book titled ''Arnold Schoenberg and America."
''He wished for his music to be played, and he wanted it to be accessible to the public," said Feisst. ''I think it's great that your orchestra will be doing it."
The Chamber Symphony No. 2 is a tonal piece, which was started early in the 20th century, but not completed until 1939. Noting that the piece is more than 60 years old, Buswell said, ''I don't think we can call it modern music anymore. But it certainly is challenging."
''What's deceptive is that Mozart is just as hard as Schoenberg," said Buswell. ''With Mozart, the musicians can play the notes and not embarrass themselves, but it may not sound especially good. . . . With Schoenberg, it's all about getting the notes right."
Still, for all their differences in style, the two composers are ''real brothers" in the Austrian-German tradition stretching back to Bach, said Buswell. And ultimately, the technical issues don't obscure the emotions in the music. The chamber symphony is ''a dark and brooding piece, written by a European expatriate during World War II who can't escape the historical depths of despair that's a product of moment and comes out of the composer's pen."
Meanwhile, the ''Haffner" Symphony, written around the middle of Mozart's composing career in 1782, is ''enormously joyous," Buswell said, and this variety is something he strives for in his programming.
''What I do is like a chef putting together a four-course meal," he said. ''There is the thread of continuity, but with contrast."
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