[ REVIEW ]
Takeo Kudo's "Let Freedom Ring! Concerto for Taiko Drums and Orchestra," featuring Kenny Endo, premiered with maestro Samuel Wong and the Honolulu Symphony back in the fall of 1998. After traveling to Hong Kong, it returned to Honolulu on Friday night for an even more enthusiastic welcome. Combination of orchestra
and taiko drums ages well
Kenny Endo returns!
Taiko drums and orchestra featuring Kenny Endo with maestro Samuel Wong and the Honolulu Symphony4 p.m. today at the Neal Blaisdell Concert Hall
By Ruth O. Bingham
Special to the Star-BulletinThe piece has settled in, sounding more relaxed, more coherent than at its premiere, and the taiko drums seem more comfortably integrated into the orchestral fabric. The balance was also better, owing in part to a smaller o-daiko drum, weighing "only" 165 pounds instead of 300.
As before, Endo was riveting from the moment he strode on stage. He played each of the drums with great precision: the hand-held ko-tsuzumi, its tone controlled by adjusting the tension of the lacings; the shime-daiko, played while seated; and the great o-daiko, played while standing. His vocalizations resonated clearly, even over full orchestra.
Near the end of the piece, Endo created an innovative cadenza on the o-daiko, the only improvised section of the piece. He described the directions as indicating to start slow and quiet ... then get quieter and slower. Endo incorporated a wide variety of sounds by tapping, striking, scraping and caressing the drum with his drumsticks.
"Let Freedom Ring!" is a dynamite work, one of the best examples of that currently popular orchestral genre melding musical cultures, and well worth a repeat.
The second half was devoted to Bartok's "Concerto for Orchestra," one of the enduring masterworks of the 20th century. Symphonic in nature, the five-movement "Concerto" bestows solos liberally, celebrating the orchestra as an ensemble of virtuosos.
On Friday night, almost every solo proved to be a gem, and the performance sparkled more brightly with each movement.
Takemitsu's eagerly anticipated "November Steps for Biwa, Shakuhachi and Orchestra," scheduled to open the concert, became another casualty of 9/11: visas for musicians did not clear in time. This was not the symphony's first last-minute hitch in lining up musicians. The world has changed, and the symphony's management will have to plan further ahead.
Wong substituted Ravel's "Le tombeau de Couperin," four highly stylized French dances from Couperin's era. The piece completed an evening of stellar solos by flutist David Buck and oboist Scott Janusch.
Ruth O. Bingham reviews classical music for the Star-Bulletin.
