Whetting the appetite for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s latest offering will require immediate use of the imagination and an innate attraction for the dramatic.
Picture the beat, beat, beat of kettle drums, softly but constantly, in a three-note pattern. The beat eventually leads to the orchestra whispering one word, “Nevermore” over and over again as the drum pattern gets louder. Actor John Astin begins to recite Edgar Alan Poe’s immortal poem, “The Raven” as one section of the orchestra plays over another in eerie, musical accompaniment.
Conductor and composer, Leonard Slatkin leads the BSO this week in a musical tribute to the Baltimore hometown hero in honor of the poet’s 200th birthday. “The Raven” is a musical setting to five of Poe’s classic poems, each read by a different narrator.
“It was intended as a kind of virtuoso work for narrators and is a concerto in the sense that it’s a showoff piece,” Slatkin said. “The narrator never stops during the course of the [concerto] and each poem is preceded by the line, ‘Once upon a midnight dreary …’ ”
With this macabre scenario set, it is important to point out that Poe’s words and Slatkin’s music are intertwined, with the latter’s orchestral score never having been constructed as a stand-alone piece.
Slatkin explains the dynamic quite literally when he says, “In this concerto, my job is to adjust the orchestra depending on what kind of inflection the narrators give to the works.”
Rosemary Knower will narrate Poe’s poem, “The Bells.”
“It’s a wonderful poem [with] the whole curve of life in it — childhood, marriage, terror [and] death,” said the Baltimore actress. “I’m very much looking forward to … the music. With words like ‘tintinnabulation’ to inflame the composer, it will be a joy, I’m sure.”
Slatkin rounds out the program with Rossini’s overture to “The Thieving Magpie” which, he says, “is lighter in tone and keeps with the bird theme.”
Jean Sibelius’ “Symphony No. 2”, with its upbeat recurring three-note motif and grandiose finale, closes the program.
IF YOU GO
Slatkin’s “The Raven”
Venue: The Music Center at Strathmore
5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda
Time: 8 p.m. Thursday
Venue: Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
1212 Cathedral St., Baltimore
Time: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Tickets: $25 to $80
Info: 410-783-8000 or www.bsomusic.org
