Review: Rota double bass concerto receives superb performance from Xavier Foley at Grant Park Music Festival

I was in Chicago last week for the annual meeting of the Music Critics Association of North America (MCANA), arriving a few days early so that I could interview Carlos Kalmar, the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival, and hear one of the concerts that he conducted. Kalmar has led the GPMF Orchestra since 2000 and will step down from his current post after the 2024 season. He was the Music Director of the Oregon Symphony for 18 years from 2003 to 2020.

The Grant Park Music Festival receives funding from the Grant Park Orchestral Association, the Chicago Park District and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Over a period of 10 weeks during the summer, the GPMF offers 19 concerts, and Kalmar conducts 9 of them at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, which was designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry. The lineup of guest artists is top-tier (Stephen Hough, Augustin Hadelich, Xavier Foley, etc.) and the GPMF Chorus, prepared by Christopher Bell participates in several of the concerts, including the big finale on August 18 and 19 in Mendelssohn’s rarely hear secular cantata “Die erste Walpurgisnacht” (“The First Walpurgis Night”).

A strong group of guest conductors are audition for Kalmar’s job. They are Jordan de Souza, Valentina Peleggi, former Seattle Symphony Music Director Ludovic Morlot, Gemma New, Kevin John Edusei, Ken-David Masur, Eric Jacobsen, and Oregon Symphony’s MD David Danzmayr. When I talked with Kalmar, he mentioned that he will not be involved in the selection of his successor. Whoever gets the nod, will have some pretty big shoes to fill since Kalmar has upgraded the orchestra during his tenure, and they have made several recordings, including a Grammy nomination for its “Robert Kurka: Symphonic Works” album.

Under Kalmar’s direction, the GPMF programs contain an intriguing mixture of a beloved gems, unfamiliar pieces by familiar composers, and new works. The concert I heard on June 21st at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion almost fell into these categories but with another twist. Brahms’ “Academic Festival Overture” notched the first category. Nino Rota’s “Divertimento Concertante” for solo double bass – performed magnificently by Xavier Foley – checked the second slot. Robert Fuchs very rarely performed Symphony No. 2 sorta filled the third.

The highlight of the concert was Foley’s performance of Rota’s “Divertimento Concertante.” Rota, acclaimed for his 171 film scores that included an Academy Award, wrote the concerto for double bass when he taught at the Bari Conservatory and was influenced by the school’s eminent bass professor Franco Petracchi.

Foley commanded all four movements of the “Divertimento Concertante” with terrific pizzaz. It started with a jocular theme from the orchestra that was handed off to Foley. He then held an extended conversation with his colleagues, all the while showing off a lot of flair and spin on his lines and making it all look easy peasy. His second cadenza accelerated into a snappy ending that drew applause from the audience. The second movement had a whimsical Prokofiev-like march, and the third transitioned into a sweeping Romantic style, but it slowed down a one point, and Foley gave that a heavier, tragic feelling. The final movement was light and playful with a lot of octave-like jumps. His accelerando at the end was breathtaking, and the audience erupted with a long, standing ovation.

Foley responded with an encore, which was one of his own compositions, the Etude No. 11 (“The Singer!”), which gave a slightly jazzy style to a beautiful melody that was perfect for a summer evening.

Robert Fuchs taught at the Vienna Conservatory where his many illustrious pupils included Gustav Mahler, Jean Sibelius, Erich Korngold, and Hugo Wolf. Although Fuchs gained acclaim for his serenades and three symphonies – and earned the admiration of Brahms – his works have largely been forgotten.

Kalmar and the orchestra gave Fuchs’s Second Symphony a good showing. The first movement began with a grand brass fanfare that was echoed by the strings. Thick melodic lines followed and returned to the fanfare before closing out. The second movement suggested a lovely countryside combined with a rustic dance. The third offered a waltz that travelled through the strings very elegantly. But the fourth movement didn’t journey much further and seemed to stall out a bit in the idea department. Despite an excellent sound from the orchestra, the conclusion made the piece on the whole unsatisfying.

Much more fun to hear was Brahms’ “Academic Overture,” which opened the concert. It was based on German-students’ drinking songs, and the piece bounced along at a jaunty pace. The wind picked up at times throughout the Brahms number and the other pieces with varying blasts that would have easily blown the scores off the music stands. But the musicians were particularly adept at using little close-pin-like devices to keep everything intact. Kalmar used a small paper weight to keep his score from flying about. He could even change the page with his left hand and scoot it under the paper weight while keeping the baton moving in his right hand and not miss anything. Very balletic!