March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Sounding out the BSO

Glen Cortese laughs when he describes how he left New York City last week just in time to miss the snowstorm there. He’s in Bangor now as the third candidate for the position of music director for the Bangor Symphony Orchestra so he’s doing the local circuit.

On a piece of paper with his name at the head, 10 calendar blocks attest to a busy nine-day itinerary. TV interviews, Rotary Club, Kiwanis, Chamber of Commerce, and the BSO staff even held a surprise 34th birthday party for him on Wednesday. And then, of course, there’s practice, practice, practice.

The irony of it all is that Cortese wants to leave New York to get out of the city-type rat race.

But as rat races go, Cortese admits, he has a good one. As principal conductor and director of orchestral studies at the Manhattan School of Music, Cortese is responsible for all of the workings of the school’s three orchestras.

It’s a terrific job, he says, one that he could maintain through telecommunications if he lived in Maine part time.

As it turns out, however, his current job leaves him with some time on his hands. He could spend that extra time building cabinets in the school’s piano workshop, where he goes late at night to do woodworking.

But being a conductor in the 1990s means keeping the resume in circulation, so a year and a half ago, Cortese sent his to the BSO. He didn’t know the orchestra before then, and he had only heard tell of Werner Torkanowsky, the orchestra’s last director who died in 1992. Still, he knew the position interested him.

“I was looking to get out of New York and I had a familiarity with Maine, so I applied for the job,” says Cortese, who has worked at the Bowdoin College summer music program and taken classes at the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors and Orchestra Musicians in Hancock.

Last week, Cortese worked the BSO musicians through a rehearsal of Igor Stravinsky’s “The Firebird,” which along with pieces by Samuel Barber and Ludwig van Beethoven will be featured at Sunday’s concert.

When a string player hit a wrong note, Cortese raised a surprised eyebrow, but pressed on with the music. A sublime smile overtook his face during a sweetly virtuosic section. Minutes later, he halted the music for a firm reprimand, “Did everyone mark that part? Because everybody’s not doing it. Please let’s not stop there again. It’s a complete waste of time.”

Finally Cortese concluded: “OK folks, that was excellent, excellent work. Let’s take 15.”

He moved into the musicians’ space and immediately began talking with string players, fine-tuning his points on the problem section.

“There are many different ways to play classical music,” explains Cortese as he speaks from the BSO office. “The sound of a particular orchestra has to do with shaping musicians the way you want them to play in an average situation. When people play well, you can really develop something, and it can be rewarding on both sides.”

If Cortese finds himself in the director’s position next year, he’ll work on developing a BSO sound. American instrumentalists are technical specialists, he says. That adeptness is a good first step at refining an orchestra’s sound and really getting to the heart of the music.

The result is a blend of technique and talent that makes working with 80 to 100 musicians magical for Cortese. And it helps, he admits, that the BSO is a collection of musicians to which he can say, “Excellent work.”

Glen Cortese will conduct the Bangor Symphony Orchestra 3 p.m. Feb. 20 at the Maine Center for the Arts. For tickets, call 942-5555.


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