The Missoula Symphony Orchestra, with guest soloist Edmund Battersby, will perform two concerts this weekend to kick off the MSO's 2007-2008 season.
Concerts take place at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 22, and 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 23. Tickets are $8-$35 and available in advance by calling the Missoula Symphony Association office at 721-3194.
Darko Butorac reserves a special place in his heart for the Fifth Symphony of Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikowsky. It's not just that he loves the music, as so many people around the world do. For Butorac, the Fifth Symphony in a very real way brought him to where he is today, standing at the podium as conductor of the Missoula Symphony Orchestra.
"I had prepared the Saint-Saens Cello Concerto to perform that year, but then I was offered the chance to conduct a piece instead," recalls Butorac. "So I conducted the first movement of the Tchaikowsky Fifth (Symphony)."
Thus it came to pass that the first time Butorac picked up a conducting baton and leveled a downbeat, he heard the first, mysterious strains of Tchaikowsky's colossal masterpiece.
"The conducting bug really bit me right away," recalls Butorac. "I decided that's what I wanted to do."
Since then, Butorac has had the opportunity to conduct the piece several times throughout his years as student, grad student, and eventually orchestra director at Arizona State University. Now, the Fifth Symphony marks the beginning of yet another chapter in Butorac's life: This weekend, he will conduct the piece as part of the first concert of his first season as artistic director and conductor of the MSO.
But just because he has grown up with this music doesn't mean he feels it is his specialty.
"There's always something more you discover, every time you open a great piece of music," says Butorac. "The Fifth Symphony is undeniably a great piece of music. I guess the best I can say for my relationship to the piece is that it's always great to find myself in company of genius."
As genius goes, there have been few greater in the world of music than Tchaikowsky. Though he was never mistaken for an artist of great innovation or formal technique, Tchaikowsky was arguably the greatest melodist in history, and he was never afraid to push beyond his comfort zone into new musical territory.
We Americans know of Tchaikowsky best for his brilliantly colorful ballet, "The Nutcracker," and his bombastic "1812 Overture," works that have ended up as de facto staples of Christmas and Independence Day celebrations in practically every community that can muster an orchestra (and cannon).
But music scholars generally agree that his greatest works are the last three of his six symphonies. No wonder, then, that last year, according to data from the American Symphony Orchestra League, Tchaikowsky's Fifth Symphony was the most-performed piece by orchestras in America.
"If you compare the Fifth Symphony to something that is familiar like 'The Nutcracker,' you'll find that the voice is similar but how the sounds develop and progress and contrast take it to a more serious level," says Butorac. "The third movement of the Symphony is basically very similar to 'The Nutcracker,' with these light, frilly, beautiful melodies; but the way they're worked over and developed, it really goes to a new level. It's for serious introspection; and that part is true for the other movements as well.
"The whole piece is a strong, dramatic musical statement, one that resonates for people at so many levels."
The same could be said of the other big work on this weekend's program by the MSO, Ludwig Van Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto. The two works even begin similarly, with a soft, mysterious statement of the introductory theme. And when it comes to musical geniuses with a gift for strong, dramatic musical statements, there is no greater in history than Beethoven.
"The music of this Concerto speaks in a fully formed, easy-to-understand voice; yet it's so powerful to listen to," says Butorac. "It is a very compact piece that still feels huge because it is so intricately and carefully organized.
"And on top of that," Butorac adds with a sigh and a grin, "it's as hard to play as any of his music."
In that respect, the MSO has pulled in a most critical and capable reinforcement, in the person of pianist Edmund Battersby. A soloist who has appeared with orchestras including the Pittsburgh Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Mexico's Symphony Orchestra of Guadalajara and the National Orchestra of Chile in Santiago, Battersby is one of the most heralded up-and-coming pianists in the American music scene.
Like all soloists, Battersby plays works from across the repertoire. But his specialty is Beethoven's concertos. Butorac predicts that the special place that Battersby holds in his heart for these works will shine through in this weekend's concerts.
"I like to work with people who are interested in taking an informed approach to works, and he is definitely that kind of soloist," says Butorac. "We are very fortunate to have him coming to town to play this particular piece of music."
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