Colorful, exciting opening night promises a fun season to come

Marc Shulgold, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 16, 2006 at midnight

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Opening night of the Colorado Symphony's 2006-07 season in Boettcher Hall was filled with excitement - beginning with the thrill of the desperate search to find parking on a busy Friday in downtown.

Once inside the hall, the audience was treated to the premiere of a work commissioned by the CSO in honor of the upcoming completion of the Denver Art Museum's massive new Hamilton Building.

As befits the occasion (and the enormity of Daniel Libeskind's conception), Boulder-based composer Daniel Kellogg fashioned a 12-minute piece that utilizes a big band and the occasional big bang.

Refracted Skies, it's titled - more in tribute to Colorado's open spaces than any specific architectural reference. Yet the piece does offer moments of grandness that, for this listener, conjured images of the space-age museum.

The work was dominated by atmospheric chords from the sustained strings and winds, offset by heroic barks and bellows from the brass. There were flirtations with dissonance and impressive passages of Wagnerian grandeur. Although thoroughly modern in its lack of pretty tunes and harmonies, Refracted Skies does please with an accessibility and an unstoppable optimism.

Jeffrey Kahane led the CSO in a shimmering, detailed reading (nice violin solos from Yumi Hwang-Williams). Kellogg received a warm reception from the crowd. It's likely we'll be hearing more from this fine young composer in the future.

The evening's soloist, pianist André Watts, also shows promise. Just kidding - this marvelous concert hall veteran has graced the Boettcher stage on a number of occasions, each one packed with supreme technique, unmatched musicality and warm personality.

Watts' vehicle on Friday was the popular Second Concerto of Rachmaninoff. If the opening movement felt just a tad restrained, there was little else in this barn-burning performance to disappoint the listener.

Every keyboard flourish, every moonstruck melody, every diabolical double-octave roar emerged with poise, control and confidence. Watts is so comfortable with this music that he spent most of his time following Kahane's beat, seemingly content to let his nimble fingers fend for themselves.

After intermission, the CSO offered technicolor readings of two concert-hall favorites: Ravel's Second Daphnis and Cloé Suite and Chabrier's tuneful romp, España.

Assisted ably by the "ahh"-inspiring singing of the wordless CSO Chorus, along with brilliant solos from flutist Pamela Endsley and piccolo player Julie Thornton, Kahane and company brought an impressive sweep to the devilishly tricky Ravel score. It seems that the CSO's music director, kicking off his second season here, is comfortable conducting just about any musical genre.

After the colorful splashes of Daphnis, the Chabrier emerged as a fun little dessert. The promise, we trust, of a fun little season of music.

Colorado Symphony

• Grade: A-

• When and where: Repeated at 7:30 p.m. today and 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Boettcher Hall, 14th and Curtis

• Cost: $15 to $67.50

• Information: 303-623-7876

• Of note: Tonight's concert will be broadcast live in 5.1 surround sound at 7:30 p.m. on KVOD-FM (90.1).

Marc Shulgold is the music and dance writer. Shulgoldm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5296

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