“Like a musical blast furnace, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and guest conductor Paul Anthony McRae singed the front rows of the Tucson Performing Arts Center with the powerhouse closing movement of Saint-Saens’ “Organ” Symphony.
But having said that, it must be added that guest conductor Paul Anthony McRae brought out a rich, full bodied tone from all the strings that has not been heard here in past performances. Moreover, McRae’s incisive baton work and tight-focused podium choreography, coupled with his considerable musical instincts and obvious deep understanding of the score, made for a reading not just of power but of sculpted relief to the finest detail.
A demanding conductor, McRae’s phrasing as well was exceptional. With subtle, organic shifts in rhythm, he separated logical structural blocks and intensified dramatic impact and propulsive impulse.
“There is not a reckless bone in Paul Anthony McRae’s body. At least he didn’t display any random abandonment on the podium when he conducted Lake Forest Symphony on Friday night.
He led his skilled musicians through the murky waters of the French repertoire with the precision of a sea captain who knew the shipping channels and wasn’t going to put his crew in danger for a minute.
Opening the concert was the Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun by Claude Debussy. Instead of letting the instrumental voices blur together, McRae layered them, one upon the other, creating clean, clear sonorities and offering a fresh, fluid performance.
The concluding work on the program was Debussy's "La Mer" - Three Symphonic Sketches which provided the Maestro to showcase the score's lush, full string passages, brilliant woodwind soloists, and the orchestra's majestic brass section. Most definitely a night to remember!
“Saturday evening’s Greensboro Symphony concert closed with as convincing and exciting a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony as one could hear. Each of the four movements was eloquent in both its technical command and its musical imagination and authority.
No piece in the symphonic repertoire has more melodic and dramatic appeal for concert goers than this lush and evocative work, and Paul Anthony McRae filled the piece with fresh insights and held his large group of musicians under absolute control throughout.
The final movement was played with tremendous excitement. McRae captured all the radiant optimism of the material with a tempo which was increasingly daring toward its conclusion. Orchestral playing doesn’t get more exciting than this.”
“Among his many qualities, it could be said that the most distinctive quality of Paul Anthony McRae – who will conduct two different concerts with the New World Symphony at the Lincoln Theater this weekend – is his impressive versatility. With equal security, he breaks away with a work of Russell James Peck, or is passionately inspired with a concerto by Brahms.
McRae was on the podium Friday evening collaborating with Chopin International prize winner, Kevin Kenner, whose version of the Brahms Second Piano Concerto was simply impeccable. There was wonderful rhythm and balance throughout this amazing performance, and both the conductor and soloist emphasized the dramatic and grandiose aspects, without misinterpreting the delicate contrasts in the more reflective passages.
Maestro McRae gave the work a heroic and majestic dimension, maintaining his control over the dynamics of the orchestra, without losing its strength or weight, and never obliterating the finite dimension of the piano.
And McRae was back again on Saturday evening featuring a totally different program including music of Rossini, Strauss, and a Miami premiere by North American composer Russell James Peck.
Peck’s “Glory and the Grandeur” is truly something glorious and grandiose, featuring the virtuoso Percussion Group Cincinnati as its solo performers. Both the soloists and the conductor “threw the house out of the window” with this spectacular performance. The “Glory and the Grandeur” is justly dedicated to McRae, who recently gave the work its World and European premieres.
Saturday’s performance was completed with a spine-tingling version of Rossini’s overture to “La Cenerentola” and a most memorable reading of Richard Strauss’s “Der Rosenkavalier Suite.” The New World Symphony’s brilliant playing throughout the demanding program was very well received by the appreciative audience and demonstrated that for Paul Anthony McRae on the podium, everything turns ‘jarachov.’ “(Perfect)