Comprised of seven movements (each one by a different composer) covering the events of the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis, the 1945 composition The Genesis Suite was conceived by film composer Nathaniel Shilkret with the best of intentions: as a way to boost the morale of US citizens as the Second World continued (the piece eventually premiered after the war ended) and also as a way of providing paid work to refugee composers fleeing persecution from the Nazis. The suite was written for a full orchestra, choir, and features narration of text taken from the American Standard Version of the King James Bible.
The piece has rarely been performed in the UK (its premiere here was in 2018 by the London Symphony Orchestra), so the performance at the Royal Northern College of Music promised to be an exciting performance and in terms of scope alone, it did not disappoint. The full symphony orchestra was present, with a sizeable choir too. Three conductors – Clark Rundell, Harish Shankar, and Ellie Slorach – shared duties (Rundell conducted movements 1, 6, and 7; Shankar handled movements 2 and 3; Slorach guided the orchestra through movements 4 and 5) and the prospect of conducting such a large ensemble could easily have proved daunting. Luckily, all three handled their conducting with considerable aplomb and each one allowed their styles (Rundell was energetic, Shankar had a highly watchable flamboyance, and Slorach was highly controlled and precise) to stand out amongst the different musical flavours between each movement, as the suite’s movements were written by each composer in isolation.
The piece began with Schoenberg’s Prelude movement, the only movement in the suite which did not feature narration as it had no corresponding episode in the bible. As opening movements go to a suite which was conceived as appealing to the masses, it was quite a striking and bold move to open with what is, even now, a startlingly modern, avant-garde piece. Featuring Schoenberg’s trademark atonality, the piece builds up from the low rumblings of the string section, with a gong crashing as the movement bursts into life, towards a turbulent mass of sustained violin notes and choral vocalising, presumably heralding the arrival of the Lord before the work of Genesis begins.
Perhaps fittingly, given that the project was his idea, Shilkret took on the duty of composing the second movement (and one of the longest ones of the seven) which was about the creation of the world and life upon it. Opening with the dreamy strings of two harps and the low, rumbling, sound of the timpani, the Creation movement eventually grew into a piece of music which wouldn’t have sounded out of place in a Hollywood biblical epic (Shilkret obviously couldn’t help himself by incorporating elements he used in his film scores). It was with this movement that the two narrators began to read passages from the bible and it wasn’t always obvious whether or not they were in precise time with the music (in the third movement in particular, there were moments where the music built up and drowned out the male narrator).
Alexandre Tansman took on composition duties for the third movement – Adam and Eve – and perhaps unsurprisingly, the early part of the movement featured sweeping strings which were reminiscent of scores from romantic drama films. As the movement progressed and the narration reached the moment where Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, the orchestra swelled up with dramatic flair. Much like Shilkret’s movement, Tansman’s contribution had a very film score feel to it. The fourth movement told the story of Cain and Abel and was composed by Darius Milhaud. The music was full of drama and was one of the shorter movements of the suite which ensured that it didn’t outstay its welcome.
The fifth movement was by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and covered the Flood and Noah’s Ark. This movement was a longer piece and built up to huge percussion and string crescendos as the narration described the earth being hit by the great flood. The turbulence of this piece was contrasted by the quiet opening of Ernst Toch’s sixth movement, The Rainbow, which described the covenant made by God to Noah after the Flood. Toch’s piece was uplifting and optimistic, a contrast to the high drama of the previous movements, and it may have made a more satisfying and upbeat ending to the suite had it ended with this movement. As it was, the suite concluded with Igor Stravinsky’s contribution: Babel. Stravinsky’s piece felt very subdued (somewhat surprising given he was the firebrand composer of the Rites of Spring) with its tense cello-based opening but did make the most effective use of the choir. In previous movements the choir had simply made abstract vocalisations but here, the male section took over the narration to become the voice of God who resolved to scatter mankind across the world and remove the unity of one language to prevent man from becoming too powerful.
After an interval, a reduced orchestra ensemble returned to perform another piece by a migrant to the US – Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony Number 9 ‘From the New World.’ An interesting blend of eastern European sensibilities with flavourings of US folk music, Dvorak’s symphony has become one of the most recognisable pieces of classical composition (in particular, its second movement – the Largo). The conductor for this piece, Douglas Boyd, was quite literally throwing himself into the performance with grand, sweeping gestures and intensity. The opening movement made expressive use of the timpani and featured sweeping strings and flute lines which recalled Western movie scores. The Largo, however, is the movement most are familiar as its leitmotif has been used on adverts for Hovis bread since the 1970s. Credit must be given to Maria Mzyk on the cor anglais who handled the famous musical line supremely well. The Largo was very pastoral and relaxed, whereas the third movement (Molto vivace) opened with a more dramatic, quicker tempo from the violin section. As the movement developed, the pace slowed down, and the humble triangle was given some much-needed appreciation. The final movement had a string opening which was clearly an inspiration for John Williams’ ‘Theme from Jaws’ but which then allowed for the horn section to burst forth into life as the leitmotif from the second movement reappeared in a slightly reconfigured fashion.
The Dvorak symphony provided a bracing end to the evening and was conducted and performed with considerable panache. As for the Genesis Suite, that too was well performed and conducted (although the Dvorak performance was tighter, but this may simply be because the Genesis Suite is a big undertaking) and was a fascinating chance to hear a rarely performed work. The members of the RNCM Symphony Orchestra should have good reason to feel proud of their work at this concert.
Reviewer - Andrew Marsden
on - 6/3/20
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