By LARRY PARNASS
Date published: 2/9/2002
Though he makes his music and his living up north now, David Kidwell's
creative vista includes a place that was once in his backyard—the magical
Shenandoah mountains of his native Virginia.
The sounds of that place swirled around him when the precocious musician
became a church organist at age 12.
Now 33, Kidwell has been steeping himself in all things Shenandoah, in the
months he's shaped a new symphonic work. On Sunday, that piece becomes
the subject of the Holyoke Civic Symphony's first professional recording.
Kidwell, who's directed the orchestra for five years, will lead its
members in the premiere of Shenandoah: A Symphonic Portrait. The 3 p.m.
performance is free and will be offered in Holyoke Community College's
Forum building.
Though he moved from Virginia when he was 21, and now lives in
Easthampton, Kidwell says he returns often to visit family and to camp in
the mountains. "It's just a gorgeous place," he said.
Lest there be any doubt about that, Kidwell has prepared a small exhibit
of photographs he took in Shenandoah National Park and will display them
in the Forum lobby.
For the past four months, Kidwell has labored on his 25-minute musical
portrait, creating an arrangement for the full orchestra and for
instruments not normally part of a symphony: guitar and dulcimer.
He says the inspiration to capture the Shenandoah Valley's majesty in
music came to him after he saw the movie "O Brother Where Art Thou?"
"That was when I realized there was this huge interest in roots music. It
occurred to me that no one had incorporated that into serious orchestral
music," said Kidwell, who also directs the choir at Edwards Church in
Northampton. "I thought I could take advantage of it."
The symphony has been rehearsing the new work since December — the start of
what naturally becomes and collaboration between the orchestra and, in
this case, the man who is both the conductor and the composer. The
nonprofit, volunteer orchestra, now in its 35th year, commissioned the
work.
"I'm learning a lot about the technical capabilities of various
instruments," Kidwell said. "Things crop up that you didn't realize would
— such as difficult passages, or unplayable passages. The musicians will
let you know about that."
For the most part, preparations have gone well.
From where he sits with his viola, just four feet from Kidwell's music
stand, symphony member Tom Schwab can see the director's excitement, as
he's led the rehearsals of Shenandoah.
"On more than one occasion I've thought, 'What a feeling it must be to
have written something and see it come alive,'" Schwab said.
Kidwell's piece has four movements. Throughout, Kidwell says he worked to
emulate folk elements that listeners will recognize.
In the first movement, he uses a closing chord that is an homage to
composer Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring. The last movement contains
elements of the folk song Oh Shenandoah.
Schwab, the violist, said those echoes of earlier folk music will seem
familiar to listeners, who might not understand that save for occasional
musical "quotes," the material is original.
"When you hear some of the melodies, you think, 'Oh, I know that.' But you
don't," Schwab said.
For a "hoe-down" section in the second movement, members of the symphony
pump up the pop — and the realism of the sound — with stomping and clapping.
While Kidwell says he much admires Copland's famous work, he himself
elected to be a little less serious in his portrait of an Appalachian
place.
"Mine has more hooks — I guess you could call them commercial elements," he
said. In the months or years ahead, Kidwell says he hopes to see the work
picked up by other orchestras. He said Kevin Rhodes, who directs the
Springfield Symphony Orchestra, has a copy of the score. He plans to
approach the Albany, N.Y., symphony as well. "I'm hoping it will be a
popular piece," Kidwell said.
Sunday's 3 p.m. program also includes a performance of Rachmaninoff's
Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, with a solo by Gary Steigerwalt, a
faculty member at Mount Holyoke College.
