Mastering Modernity

Pianist prodigy Clayton Stephenson joins Richmond Symphony for Ravel's "Piano Concerto in G."

Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” opens with an exotic, floating, bassoon solo. Other instruments join in a lovely, increasingly detailed, impressionistic introductory section ending with a ticking on plucked strings.

Then the modern musical era begins.

The strings turn aggressively rhythmic, a move that John Williams will use for the shark attacks in “Jaws.” Seconds later, violins slash in a higher pitch that Bernard Herrmann will use in the infamous shower scene of “Psycho.” The influence of this relatively short (30-40 minute) ballet piece is so embedded in modern culture, from Frank Zappa to “Star Wars,” that it may be impossible to really hear it for the first time.

The people who actually did, at its 1913 Paris preview, were famously shocked by its transgressive dissonance and spikey turns between lyrical beauty and violent emotions. The original conductor hated the piece. Musicians mistakenly thought the score contained errors. And the subject matter, involving pagan human sacrifice, was choreographed with avant-garde intensity by the early 20th-century ballet great Vaslav Nijinsky.

All of which makes it a perfect choice for interpretation this weekend by the current Richmond Symphony and its conductor Valentina Peleggi, who has a proven capability for revealing new dimensions in the most familiar classical sources. The piece is the highlight of a concert focused on composers living in Paris in the mid-1920s.

Rising classical star Valentina Peleggi, music director and conductor for the Richmond Symphony. Photo by James Loving

“There was just a vast diversity of sounds,” says Clayton Stephenson, the evening’s other main attraction as the soloist for Ravel’s Piano “Concerto in G.” He notes that “Stravinsky was delving into Russian traditions, Debussy was inspired by the impressionist painters and Ravel was exploring jazz and the Spanish music he heard during the [1900] World Fair [in Paris, France].”

The young pianist explains that the biggest challenge of performing the Ravel piece is being able to rapidly change character. “You may be playing flamenco style one moment, then ragtime the next,” he says. The concerto also has echoes of George Gershwin’s famous “Rhapsody in Blue,” which debuted a half-decade earlier in 1924. “There are harmonic similarities, and Ravel studied with Gershwin to learn more about American jazz,” he adds.

Stephenson is emerging as one of the most promising pianists of his generation. According to his website, he is currently pursuing both a bachelor’s degree in economics at Harvard and a masters in piano performance at the New England Conservatory of Music. A prodigy nurtured by a Julliard School program for underprivileged children, Stephenson practiced on a discarded school classroom upright [piano] until he was 17. He then became the first Black finalist at the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2022. The renown opened doors for him to travel the world and play with the New York Philharmonic and other famous orchestras. This is his first time in Richmond.

The third and oldest piece on the program is Claude Debussy’s shimmering “La Mer” (or “The Sea.”) Composed in 1905, it offers a trilogy of “symphonic sketches” evoking the ocean; and it was also a source for Williams’ “Jaws” score. Although Debussy objected to the application of the term “impressionistic” to his music, the paintings of Monet, Degas, and J.W. Turner are apt visual analogs for this composer’s allusive interplay of rhythms and harmonic colors.

A century later, these musical works remain strikingly modern. Perhaps that is inevitable, given that they were among the artistic works that announced and defined modernity. It was an artistic moment in time when creativity was balanced on a knife’s edge between representation and abstraction. Maybe it still is.

The Richmond Symphony performs Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring,” Debussy’s “La Mer” and Ravel’s “Piano Concerto in G” (featuring Clayton Stephenson) on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 20 at 3 p.m. at the Carpenter Theatre. Tickets are $52-$69 plus fees. (Some free child and teen tickets available.) Free pre-concert talk 1 hour before.

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