The Jacksonville Symphony presented a program of symphonic works on May 15 and 16, exploring important ideas about origins in their performance. The first half of the program found Jacksonville itself as a starting point. The opening work, Tarik O’Regan’s “Trances,” was commissioned and premiered by the Jacksonville Symphony in 2022. A piece that explores the composer’s dual Irish and Moroccan heritage, “Trances” introduces folk-inspired elements into a lush orchestral texture.
The Jacksonville Symphony’s return to O’Regan’s “Trances” demonstrated a sensitivity to the dream-like aspects of the work. O’Regan recalls the folk elements from his childhood, and the Symphony’s strings conjured the ethereal subtly of memory. The rare appearance of hand drums displayed the percussion section’s versatility, striking a balance between the realism of actual drumming practice and the demands of the concert hall.
The performance built in energy and intensity, tracing the minimalist-inspired elements of this score. The rhythmic retakes of the string section maintained the warmth of sound we’ve come to expect from the Jacksonville Symphony while heightening O’Regan’s rhythmic drive.
Soloists Conrad Tao (pianist), Stefan Jackiw (violinist), and Jay Campbell (cellist) then carried forward the energy in the second piece on the program, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in C major. Here, the performance blossomed out of the relationships among those on stage. Conrad Tao and Stefan Jackiw, both frequent fliers at Jacoby Symphony Hall, brought Campbell into the circle, passing phrases among the three players in a banter-like imitation.
Music Director Courtney Lewis added to the fun with his flexible direction of the Symphony. The ensemble’s willingness to follow suit added up to a fresh take on Beethoven, thrilling in its heterodoxy without getting carried away.
Despite moments that may have given away the newness of the soloists’ journey with the piece (with the exception of Jackiw), the performance itself came alive to eclipse any rough edges. The friendships on display gave this performance life that inspired the audience’s energetic response.
Following a too-brief intermission shared with another Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts audience, the Symphony explored a heavier origin story. Lewis framed the Symphony’s performance of Johannes Brahms’s Symphony No. 4 in E minor as an indulgence in the tragic, and he fittingly led the ensemble to explore these depths.
The percussion section again stole the show at the outset, with timpanist Kenneth Every employing his range of sensitivity and bombast at the service of Brahms’s demanding score. The winds stepped into the spotlight in the second movement with an extroverted rendition of Brahms’s agitated Andante moderato. The group made up for moments of interpretive uncertainty with their suave, sure sound.
Following the emotive power of the opening movements, the rest of the performance brought a fully committed audience along on Brahms’s intense journey. Where O’Regan drew out themes of identity in his recollective music, and the Symphony’s performance of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto was motivated by friendship, Brahms’s emotional exploration of the tragic pointed to similarly deep roots.
Jacksonville as a city gave occasion for such a meditation on individual identity and a budding friendship among musicians. In Lewis’s capable hands, the Symphony took on Brahms’s challenge to join the Ancient Greeks in considering the tragic.
We may not find a settled opinion on this core human tendency (is it in fact always cathartic?), but we can rest assured that Jacksonville’s origin story as a city finds good company. If the Ancient Greeks never thought twice about devoting the city’s essential time and money to regularly encounter the tragic on stage, the Jacksonville Symphony’s performance of Brahms’s Fourth shows that our city must be doing something right.
Matt Bickett is a musician, researcher and educator based in Jacksonville. He serves as director of music at St. Paul’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church and as a humanities teacher with Teach for America.
