Symphony's risk pays off

The Santa Rosa Symphony under Maestro Bruno Ferrandis took a voyage through darkness and light Saturday night, reflecting the intermittent rain and sunshine earlier in the day.

The daring program at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts featured angular 20th-century works in the first half: Gyorgy Ligeti’s “Lontano” for Orchestra and Alban Berg’s Concerto for Violin. The second half was filled out by Franz Schubert’s sunny and capacious Symphony No. 9 in C Major, “the Great.”

Although none of the works stood out from the rest, the program worked as a cohesive whole, with each of the pieces sliding together neatly like a puzzle.

Thematically, Ferrandis conceived the program as a history lesson. Each of the works was written in Vienna during different eras: the Classical era of 1828 (Schubert), the twelve-tone era of 1935 (Berg) and the contemporary era of 1967 (Ligeti).

But the works also resonated on a visual level. Each one created a dramatic soundscape that dazzled like a kaleidoscope, shifting from light to shadowy darkness and back to light again.

Under the sensitive hands of Ferrandis, the orchestra made a persuasive case for the curtain-opener by Ligeti, an 11-minute collage of sound that quivered and quavered with an ethereal beauty.

In this short work, Ligeti offers a window into what he refers to as the “long-submerged dream worlds of childhood.”

At times, the orchestra sounded eerily like a human voice. Other times, it was reminiscent of a ringing wine glass. And at least one audience member made a comparison to tinnitus (ringing in the ears.)

After its brief climax, the piece died away, then kept fading until it was just a faint groan, with the timpani rumbling in the distance. “Lontano,” not surprisingly, means “Distant.”

Before intermission, violinist Gilles Apap performed the challenging Berg Violin Concerto with a deliciously lush, sensuous tone that sounded that much sweeter after the Ligeti.

Wearing a simple black shirt and pants, Apap moved restlessly on the stage as he played, pointing his violin alternately to the sky and to the ground. Occasionally, he even tipped it on its side to round off a phrase.

Both the challenging double-stops and the stratospheric high notes rang out cleanly and clearly. Sometimes, it seemed as if he was singing the piece rather than playing it, his phrasing was so natural.

Still, a few of his quirky stage antics were mildly distracting. And although Apap coordinated well with Ferrandis and the orchestra, he never seemed to make a deep connection with the audience.

After intermission, the orchestra swept through Schubert’s bumptious Symphony No. 9 with crisp rhythms, singing lyricism and sharp, penetrating contrasts.

Ferrandis kept the orchestra moving at a nice clip, lending a fresh, impetuous spirit to the piece without pushing it over the edge.

The brass played heroicially, the inner voices of the strings lent a luster to the overall sound and the woodwinds brought the finale home in a searing blaze of C Major.

Saturday’s concert was a mixed bag - not every piece was a crowd pleaser - but the risky program paid off handsomely for Ferrandis and his band. Rain or shine, he’s proving himself a fearless and intrepid leader.