An intoxicating timelessness: Pianist Artina McCain with Orchestra Nova Northwest

Orchestra Nova Northwest celebrated its new name with solid performances of music by African-American composers at Reynolds High School (September 14). Conducted by Music Director Steven Byess (now in his 10th season with the orchestra), the concert offered gems by George Walker, Florence Price, and Fred Onovwerosuoke, including two nuggets that were delivered with elan by pianist Artina McCain.

But dang it! A paltry audience on a rainy evening was the only thing that marred an exceptional program. 

The orchestra that was previously known as the Portland Columbia Symphony updated its name to Orchestra Nova Northwest in order to reflect its mission to present concerts in the greater Portland metropolitan area with an emphasis on the diversity of musical talent. With that renewed vision in mind, ONN’s inaugural concert embraced its artistic endeavor wholeheartedly, beginning with Onovwerosuoke’s Dance Tribute for Orchestra and Piano Obbligato. Born in Ghana to Nigerian parents, Onovwerosuoke is an award-winning American composer who is equally at home in African and Western musical styles. He has impressively visited more than thirty African countries to research Africa’s rich musical traditions.

Typically, the first number in an orchestra concert is a short, uplifting orchestra-only piece that tunes up concertgoers’ ears. Onovwerosuoke’s piece did exactly that in the form of a mini-piano concerto. With McCain at the keyboard, the Dance Tribute for Orchestra and Piano Obbligato leapt forward with a snappy, catchy melodic phrases that had an African underlayment. They were spiced up now and then by spirited riffs from the flute. Four percussionists danced back and forth between a battery of instruments, and the piece concluded with a feeling of rhythmic joy. 

George Walker’s Lyric for Strings has been getting more and more performances by orchestras around the world, a long-overdue recognition of Walker’s artistry. He wrote the piece when he was 24 years old and studying at the Curtis Institute of Music. Shortly before he died in 2018, he told interviewers “I never played a string instrument, but somehow strings have always fascinated me.” Wow!

Under the baton of Byess, the NOO brought out the terrific mixture of lament, poignancy, and optimism that imbues the Lyric for Strings with an intoxicating timelessness. The lower strings added just the right amount of gravitas so that the music came across prayerfully, but not piously. It sounded just right. 

The renaissance of interest in the music of Price has been set in motion by the rediscovery in 2009 of many of her pieces that were considered lost. It was a miracle that a trove of her scores were found in a run-down, abandoned house in St. Anne, Illinois – about 70 miles south of Chicago – that Price had used during the summer. Instead of being tossed in the dumpster, the music was verified by musicians and musicologists and now can be heard on concert stages and recordings once again.

McCain returned to center stage for a performance of Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in D Minor in One Movement (which actually has three movements, but they are played without pause). The propulsive, rolling melodic line of the “Andantino” received plenty of verve from McCain. The lovely oboe and piano duet highlighted the “Adagio cantabile,” and the springy juba dance in the “Allegretto” brought the piece to a brilliant finale. 

After intermission, Price’s Symphony No. 1 in E Minor received a fine performance by the orchestra. Byess urged excellent playing from the woodwinds plus a fine viola solo in the first movement. A stately exchange of passages between the brass and woodwinds enhanced the second movement, and the clarinet gave a motoric sense of constant motion. The syncopated juba-inflected rhythms of the third movement were infectious – only to be topped off by a slightly faster tempo in the fourth, which led to a jubilant finale. 

Returning to the sparse attendance, I know that the orchestra has worked hard to draw an audience in the east-county area with concerts in Gresham and Troutdale, but I am wondering what it would take to generate a robust turnout. Hmm…