Zimmerman leaves with a flourish

ORONO – At the end, the cheering crowd yelled out “Encore,” and “One more time!”

As Christopher Zimmerman took his final bows Sunday, it was evident that the departing music director had led the Bangor Symphony Orchestra and the combined voices of the University of Maine Singers and the Oratorio Society to a stunningly successful close of the 2000-2001 symphony season. Zimmerman is leaving the BSO to become conductor of the Symphony of Southeast Texas in Beaumont.

The stage at the Maine Center for the Arts never looked so tiny, as the nearly 200 members of the combined Oratorio Society and the University of Maine Singers crowded onto risers behind the orchestra seats. Zimmerman led these voices in a performance of the lovely and lyrical “Geistliches Lied Op. 30,” or “Spiritual Song,” singing the words of trust in God’s will, with simplicity and strength.

The orchestra now took the stage, along with soprano Ellen Chickering, for a performance of Richard Wagner’s “Prelude and Liebestod” from “Tristan und Isolde.” The piece begins slowly, with small fragments of themes which later should build into an epiphany of sound. Unfortunately these quiet fragments were sloppy and slightly dissonant, most noticeable during unison playing within a section.

After the shaky start the piece did build, and by the time Chickering began the “Leibestod” or “Love-Death” the sound was lush and emotional, alternating passages of longing and dread with the soaring beauty of the main theme. Chickering’s voice is silvery and true, although some of her consonants seemed to be lost behind the sound of the orchestra. The sound was beautiful, however, and this music, portraying a love that transcends its mortal bounds, never fails to be emotionally satisfying.

After the intermission, Chickering returned to the stage, as well as tenor Carl Halvorson and baritone Philip Cutlip, for the climax of the afternoon and of the season: a performance of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. From the familiar opening, “O Fortuna,” to the final recapitulation, this was live classical music at its finest.

This is music that has to be heard live to appreciate the percussion, not just with the ears but with the solar plexus. The rich variety of voicings and effects is like a three-ring circus, always something amusing, alarming or exciting.

Maestro Zimmerman conducted like a house on fire, coaxing, coercing more energy from this mixed ensemble. Particularly well done was the performance of “The Song of the Roasted Swan,” a dark parable which might lead the listener to indulge in pleasure during life, for death comes all too soon. Tenor Halvorson was charmingly dolorous in his performance of the quirky song, and his singing and acting were a delight.

At the rousing close, the audience literally leaped up cheering. After three standing ovations from the packed house for the ensemble, for the soloists and most especially for Zimmerman, Bangor Symphony President Thomas Johnston and Executive Director Susan Jonason presented the much loved conductor with a memento of his seven years with the BSO, a piece of art created by Oratorio singer LeeAnne Mallonee, inspired by the words of composer Frederic Delius. “Music is an outburst of the soul”.

This concert was a wonderful way to end a season and a perfect parting gift from Zimmerman to his local friends and fans. The music was wonderful. From all of us, “Thanks, Chris!”