1. ae
THE SUNDAY REPUBLICAN JANUARY 20, 2008
SECTION
H
SEE WHO THE CONTEST
WINNERS ARE. 6H
rts& ntertainment
THIS SIDE OF
Classical
excellence
tutorials
offered
Orchestra gets
user-friendly
CONNECTICUT ARTIST CHARLES
BY BRYNN MANDEL
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
E T H A N P O R T E R B AT T L E D R A C I S M
Come early, stay late and get
a classical education.
AND H I S O W N L I M I TAT I O N S
That’s the message to Water-
bury Symphony Orchestra con-
cert goers who have more
opportunities than ever to get to
know classical music.
The symphony has frequent-
ly opened the concert hall’s
doors early in recent years, to
enlighten audiences about the
works and composers they are
about to hear. Presenters have
run the gamut from orchestra
members to local music ex-
perts. The discussions explored
topics ranging from how a
strand of hair from Beethoven
could unravel some mysteries
surrounding the composing
great’s personality and ail-
ments to a talk about Johannes NEW BRITAIN MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
Brahms. ‘Mountain Laurel,’ by Charles Ethan Porter, an
This year, the symphony ex- African-American painter from Rockville, Conn.,
panded the learning, bookend- c.1885
ing concerts with a postconcert
session, as
well.
“It’s a BY TRACEY O’SHAUGHNESSY
chance for the REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
audience to
I
n 1883, broke, despairing and frantic to
ask ques-
get one of his paintings hung at the Paris
tions,” said
Fran Gold- salon before his money ran out, Charles
man, the or-
Ethan Porter wrote Mark Twain, begging
chestra’s
administra- for a loan. “I see my money fast going,” wrote
Wolfram tive director, Porter, a black artist struggling in the fringes of
who has been leading a push
the art world.
since arriving two years ago for
the organization to forge “I am,” wrote Porter, “not least by any means.”
greater interaction with the
Not least, perhaps. But not best. Charles Ethan
community.
Porter, an African-American painter from
The next pre- and post-con-
cert discussions come Jan. 27, Rockville, Conn., was an artist in search of suc-
when the symphony starts the
cess during Reconstruction, when white backlash
second half of its 70th season.
at emancipation was rancid with poisonous
Maestro Leif Bjaland and Con-
certmaster Alyce Cognetta barbs. “Negroes” were denounced on the U.S.
Bertz will be on hand to field
Senate floor as being “both ferocious and cow-
questions.
William Wolfram, an estab- ardly,” prone to “spread lust and rapine.” That
lished pianist who has per- sort of atmosphere would have been enough to
formed with orchestras from
thwart a black artist trying to break into the
Budapest to Johannesburg, fits
nicely as an artist with the princely white world of art, but Porter was also
chops to tackle the monumental
casting about for a style in an art world that was
and technical “Piano Concerto
changing fitfully and dramatically.
No. 2” by Brahms, symphony
leader said. In addition to ap- In “Charles Ethan Porter, African-American
pearing alongside symphonies
Master of Still Life,” the New Britain Museum of
worldwide, Wolfram per-
American Art tries to tell that story, but it is a
formed a world premiere re-
orchestration of Chopin’s story in search of an ending, and, even, one might
“Piano Concerto No. 1” by con-
argue, an affirmation.
temporary composer Paul Chi-
Porter was certainly a good still-life painter,
hara.
Also slated for performance and often a very good one. But over and over
by the Waterbury Symphony is
again he falls just short of excellence, as he piv-
Antonin Dvorak’s festive “Sym-
phony No. 8 in G Major,” a ots erratically toward a style that shows off his
work based on Bohemian folk unquestionable skills in their best light. Add in
melodies.
the fact that Porter painted not just any still lifes,
but fruit-and-flower still lifes, a subset of a genre
If You Go:
already in low regard, and you’ve got an exhibit
Waterbury Symphony Orchestra
with pianist William Wolfram more powerful for its back story than for the art
performing Brahms and Dvorak
it gallantly tries to triumph.
Jan. 27 at 3 p.m., with a free pre-
But, oh, what a story.
concert lecture about the music
slated for performance begin-
See PORTER, Page 4H
ning at 2:15 p.m.
Naugatuck Valley Community
College Fine Arts Center, 750
Chase Parkway, Waterbury
Tickets, $15 through $40 and $5
for students, available by calling
(203) 574-4283 or visiting
www.waterburysymphony.org.
NEW BRITAIN MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
Charles Ethan Porter, from ‘Under the E.R. Bridge’