Maestro Cohler Heralded Spring – Review of the RSO’s Season Finale Concert

Maestro Yuga Cohler heralded Spring at last Saturday evening’s final concert this season by the Ridgefield Symphony at the Anne Richardson Auditorium with two works in marked juxtaposition to one another – Robert Schumann’s beautiful Symphony No. 1 (his Spring Symphony), which lyrically welcomes the season with all of its natural loveliness, and Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, ballet music that eschews lyric loveliness in favor of darker melodies, harsh dissonances, and rhythmic abandon as accompaniment for scenes depicting primitive Slavic rituals and sacrifice to welcome spring – music that caused rioting at its premiere in 1913 but soon became celebrated as one of the twentieth century’s most important and influential works.

Both Maestro Cohler’s interpretation and conducting and the orchestra’s playing in the Schumann symphony were exemplary, with individual solo voices, sectional balances and overall orchestral quality showing clear evidence of both Cohler’s management and of the RSO’s ongoing performance refinement.

The Rite of Spring, a challenging work for both conductor and orchestra, with its wide-ranging shifts in mood and intensity, also came through as evidence that Ridgefield’s orchestra is in good hands. As on occasions in the past when I have either played in performances of it or heard it performed, the RSO’s fine handling of it left me with the same idea that it always calls to mind, the thought of how wonderful the complete experience would have been of actually seeing its original performance as a ballet, not during the riot at its 1913 premiere, but perhaps at the dress rehearsal, featuring both the choreography and solo performance by the great dancer Vaslav Nijinsky.

Saturday evening’s audience learned that next season’s four concerts, dubbed Medley, Tribute, Soirée, and History, will all highlight the theme “American” in one way or another through music, composers, or performers. Both the quality of this season’s final concert and the anticipation of next season’s offerings should encourage Ridgefielders and those from surrounding communities to sign up for what is yet to come!