It’s not too often that orchestral musicians crinkle bags of Doritos or whisper and yell as part of a performance.
But that’s exactly what happened when the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra gave the world premiere of Colombian composer Víctor Agudelo’s Algo Va a Suceder (Something is Going to Happen) Friday night at Bass Performance Hall. Led by former music director Miguel Harth-Bedoya, the concert also included Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol and Brahms’ Third Symphony.
Compared to the Dallas Symphony, the FWSO has done a much better job of programming music by living Latin American composers in recent years. Harth-Bedoya championed these composers during his two-decade run as music director, which ended in 2020.
Commissioned by Harth-Bedoya, who conducted a previous Agudelo premiere with the FWSO, Algo Va a Suceder draws inspiration from a Gabriel García Márquez short story. In Márquez’s tale, a troubling rumor spreads among villagers, eventually leading them to burn their homes and abandon the town.
Agudelo uses the idea of the rumor to suggest the chaos of global climate change. While crinkling the snack bags, some musicians whisper the word “fuego” (fire). These murmurings are passed around the ensemble, before turning into shouting.
Twelve minutes long and generally energetic, the piece features Latin rhythms and accents. Brasses and a full battery of percussion figure prominently, and the strings typically produce sound effects, such as spooky pitch slides.
Listeners probably wouldn’t have known that Algo Va a Suceder is about climate change without Agudelo’s recorded video introduction, played on an onstage screen. But the work did serve as a rousing opener and illustrated the composer’s sure command of orchestral colors.
There followed another selection with Latin influences, Spanish in this case: Rimsky Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol. It may not be that artistically sophisticated, but it does allow the orchestra to show off.
The FWSO offered a spirited performance highlighted by stylish and eloquent solo contributions. Soloists were too many to name, but kudos goes especially to concertmaster Michael Shih, principal clarinetist Stanislav Chernyschev and principal flutist Jake Fridkis.
By contrast, the Brahms symphony felt leaden. Passages moved from one to the next without a clear conception of how they fit together, and phrases needed more rhythmic flexibility. The first and last movements were also frequently too loud, and Harth-Bedoya sometimes flailed his baton, with no apparent effect.
Still, the woodwinds supplied limpid lines and were in greater expressive agreement than at the FWSO’s first subscription concert this year. Associate principal horn player Kelly Cornell delivered a gleaming solo in the third movement. Balances were usually fine, though the trumpets have a habit of sticking out too much.
On a final note, this listener hopes for the FWSO to stop playing The Star-Spangled Banner before every concert. More than a few patrons seem to like singing along, but the anthem is ill-suited for the concert hall and disrupts the program’s sense of momentum. Does any other symphony orchestra in America maintain this antiquated tradition?
Details
Repeats at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 9 and 2 p.m. Oct. 10 at Bass Performance Hall, Fourth and Commerce, Fort Worth. $25 to $99. 817-665-6000, fwsymphony.org.
