September 13, 2018 | UHCL Staff
There’s a reason why local theater lovers keep returning to University of Houston-Clear Lake’s Bayou Theater for Mercury’s performances. They’ll perform their special interpretation of Brahms’ Third Symphony and Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony on Friday, Oct. 5 and Mercury’s Creative Director Antoine Plante said that, as always, the audience can expect something different.
“We are excited because we are beginning the season with a great symphonic extravaganza, but of course, with our own touch,” Plante said. “This is exciting because there are at least three things the audience will get from us that they will not get in a regular symphony. First, it’s the size of the orchestra. During Brahms’ time composing, 40 musicians in an orchestra was more common than today, when there would be double that number. It makes for a more intimate experience.”
He said that as is often the case with Mercury, the musicians will perform standing. “This is unique,” he said. “It gives the opportunity for more communication between the musician and the audience. It’s more dynamic, the musician can dance and move. It’s a more expressive way to make music, and that’s what we value at Mercury.”
Third, Plante said that they will use instruments that the composer used in his own orchestra. “Brahms composed in the 1860s, and we can see a big difference in the brass instruments between now and then,” he said. “There were no pistons in any horn at that time. The wind was all ‘natural,’ and it creates a difference in sound. Also, the woodwinds were made out of wood. It makes the oboes and bassoons have a particular sound, and it’s unique for our ears.”
Plante said that in this concert, they are presenting two romantic symphonies written 40 years apart. “We are reflecting on the different approaches of these composers to romantic music,” he said. “Mendelssohn’s symphony was inspired by the landscape and the mood he saw and felt on a visit to Scotland,” he said. “Brahms said the grandest, purest music doesn’t need to be anchored in anything like a poem or a landscape. It can stand alone. One idea opposes the other, and that’s why we play the two in the same concert.”
The repertoire of the romantic era is important, Plante said. “The way we perform, it’s unique. You have to come to a Mercury show to hear it.”
