by Robert Leeper
A standard orchestra program pairs a short piece by a contemporary composer with a large scale Romantic symphony. Often, the short piece is a dense tone poem or an academic exploration. But Christopher Theofanidis’s Making Up for Lost Time, which opened last Saturday's season-opening program at Caramoor, the bucolic Westchester estate, went for more pleasant summertime fare.
Theofanidis’s piece was the first of three world premieres this summer at Caramoor, which is celebrating their 70th anniversary season. Though not a virtuosic showpiece, there were impressive subtle rhythmic shifts and luminous passages performed by the Orchestra of St .Luke’s, who are themselves celebrating their 40th Anniversary season. Perhaps aware of his place on the program, Theofandis steered clear of epic themes and gestures. Instead, his piece looked inward, examining how time is perceived within a piece of music: how a listener hears it, and how that sense of time can be manipulated.
The work featured cascading arpeggios and a genial sparkle in the high hat, both of which become rhythmically displaced, leaving the audience pleasantly disoriented. This gave way to a pastoral second movement that seemed to draw heavily on the widely spaced chords and fiddle-inspired dance music of Aaron Copland.
Following intermission, former Caramoor music director Peter Oundjian led the Orchestra in a vibrant and exciting account of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Those looking for a visceral interpretation of the work would have been thrilled by the performance, though the trade off was a lost opportunity to draw out the inner complexities of the piece.
Oundjian's fast tempo was welcome in the Scherzo movement, with leaping rhythmic accents and an elegant cross-section of interwoven lines. The Adagio unfolded at steady pace, with lyrical elegance and a glowing string sound.
In the finale, Soprano Rebecca Nash ably filled in for an absent Jennifer Check, alongside mezzo-soprano Jennifer Feinstein, tenor Noah Baetge and bass Jeffrey Beruan. The Collegiate Chorale sang with strident, full-bodied voices, matched by a disciplined attention to detail. Unsurprisingly, the audience responded at the end with an enthusiastic standing ovation.