The board of the El Paso Symphony Orchestra sure has its work cut out for it.
They're in the final part of a conductor search that started last summer, when more than 250 people from all over the world applied for the influential position.
So far, four of their six finalists has come to town, talked the talk, then tried to walk the walk. All four have done well. All four have made the orchestra sound better than it had in the previous season. Clearly, the musicians are inspired, and judging from the audience reactions at their concerts, so, too, are the crowds.
David Handel, the bilingual Bolivian National Symphony Orchestra conductor who performed in October, was in my view the clear frontrunner going into this past weekend's concerts. Now he's got some serious competition from Michael Butterman.
At 45, he's a year younger than Handel, considerably taller, has a full head of hair (Handel shaves his head), a friendly, boyish charm compared to Handel's more serious, reserved manner, and a photogenic face that will look good on YouTube videos and social media, in TV and print advertising, and wooing donors and Rotary clubs alike.
Not that these two guys are out on a field somewhere duking it out with their batons. But either one would make a good fit, and there are still two more candidates to go.
Orchestra director Ruth Ellen Jacobson began Saturday's concert by reminding audiences that their votes will be counted via surveys they've been gathering after each concert, then invited the audience of more than 1,000 to enjoy "the show." It seemed an odd word choice for a music that's not so much about the show than it is the substance of the music, but when it was all said and done, it was a show indeed.
It opened with a smaller version of the orchestra, about 30 pieces according to assistant conductor Andy Moran, plus Butterman, in tux and tails, manning a harpsichord loaned by local music booster Wilma Salzman and guest violinists Ik-Hwan Bae and Soovin Kim, performing as part of the orchestra's seventh annual collaboration with El Paso Pro-Musica and its El Paso Chamber Music Festival, the 24th edition of which concludes Feb. 5.
Bae and Kim were there to play Bach's double violin concerto, a stately piece that allows plenty of space for soloing, but is more about the conversation between the two violinists — who often bounced motifs off each other in a kind of call-and-response fashion — and their interactions with the string-only orchestra.
It was stately chamber music, to be sure, but the interplay between these two musicians, the smaller, older Bae and taller, younger Kim, was mesmerizing. Bae bowed his violin in a serious manner, all focus and concentration, while Kim answered with equal intensity, his rubbery face and wiry body suggesting he was about to jump out of his shoes.
The piece was performed with a kind of precision that foreshadowed what was to come, namely the late Russell Peck's "The Glory and the Grandeur, Concerto for Percussion Trio," a forceful, rhythmic, occasionally bombastic piece that highlighted three soloists from the orchestra. Butterman said in an advance interview and his pre-show talk at the Philanthropy Theatre that the piece, while largely unknown, is always a home run with audiences.
They hit it out of the park Saturday as Larry White, Leandro "Leo" Valenzuela and Mark Saenz, sort of an EPSO version of the Blue Man Group (minus the blue faces and paint) looked like they had a blast banging, tapping, drumming, brushing, slapping, pounding and finessing a large assortment of drums, marimba, xylophone, chimes, bells and other percussion instruments that had to be fitted on the orchestra pit lift.
It was a gas to see these guys, usually relegated to the back of the orchestra, out front and having so much fun. Valenzuela in particular seemed to get into it the most, a smile often crossing his face, his body moving to the Motown-influenced groove. Peck's composition was no mere gimmick, it was more of a romp that ended triumphantly, the crowd enthusiastically jumping to its feet in ovation.
"That was cool," the older woman behind me said.
The program moved from polite baroque and clever contemporary to more traditional fare for the second half. Tchaikovsky's familar Fifth Symphony is one of the so-called warhorses orchestras typically program. The idea, Butterman said before the concert, was to have some contrast so all concerned can see what he can do while embracing the spirit of collaboration and teamwork.
The Tchaikovsky gave the guest conductor a chance to team up with the orchestra, which, save one off-key solo in the woodwinds, sounded very much in sync with him. Butterman, despite his lanky frame and good looks, did nothing to hog the spotlight. His conducting seemed more focused on the music than showmanship, though occasionally he waved the baton while on the balls of his feet.
The Tchaikovsky piece was not as dynamic as Berlioz's "Fantastique Symphony," which Handler programmed, or Mahler's First Symphony ("Titan"), which Kenneth Raskin chose for the September concerts. Both built on the other as the orchestra sounded better than it had last season and pulled off the difficult pieces with a flourish.
But Tchaikovsky's rumination on fate was more of a straightforward showcase of what the orchestra can do with a standard, from the smooth purity of Richard Lambrecht's French horn solo to the stirring blasts of the brass section, which sounds more polished this year.
The strings played with real purpose, propelling the symphony from the dark moodiness of its first movement to its sweetly sad second, waltz-like third and triumphant fourth, their precision a service to the composer's melodic gifts.
Leading the charge without upstaging his charges was Butterman, who has made this six-man conductor competition — the winner will be the 81-year-old orchestra's seventh music director — into a two-man race with two more to go.
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