Reaction: For the love of music, Shakespeare and EPSO
Performance featured Romeo and Juliet overture, conductorless Serenade for Strings and select movements from Prokofiev’s suites
Leah Romero
El Paso Symphony Orchestra leaned into the theme of the month with its Love for your Valentine concert, showcasing two musical interpretations of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
The night started out with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet overture — Fantasy – a personal favorite of mine. For me, the music sounds like a dream sequence, with its gentle beginning, peaks of intensity and building to a sorrowful ending.
I enjoyed getting lost in the overture and reflecting on the tragic love story. I thought EPSO did particular justice to this concert opener.
Techs quickly cleared the front of the stage to make room for a slightly reduced string section for a conductorless performance of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, op. 48, C major. Nathan Black, host of Opening Notes ahead of the concert, said the orchestra was surprised with the news earlier in the week that conductor Bohuslav Rattay was not going to lead the performance.
The concentration from the stage was palpable up to the mezzanine — you could almost see the invisible strings tying each musician to each other as they played through the movements. The performance went off without a noticeable hitch and was a real treat for the audience, who couldn’t help but clap after each movement.
The full symphony returned to the stage after intermission for select movements of Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet Suites. I love when the lower voices have a chance to shine a bit, and that is exactly what they get to do in the Montagues and Capulets movement. The solos scattered throughout the breaks in the heavier theme were lovely and passed from section to section.
Things felt like they got a bit away from the symphony during the next couple of movements but got back on track in the end, just in time for the death of the star-crossed lovers.
I’m looking forward to hearing what EPSO cooks up next with the Side by Side Concert with El Paso Symphony Youth Orchestra in about a month, followed by The Music of Journey. The 2024-25 season will come to a close in April with compositions by Antonín Dvořák, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Igor Stravinsky.
Leah Romero is a freelance writer based in southern New Mexico. She can be reached at www.LeahRRomero.com.