igher
Plane
By Matt Ward
Jeanne … Jeanne ... Jeanne … Heretic!
With this accusation, uttered by Friar Dominique, Arthur Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher bursts into action. The brooding, intense oratorio—with its large orchestra, full chorus, children’s chorus and vocal soloists—is at its heart an exploration of spirituality.
Tried and convicted of heresy, Joan of Arc may be cruelly anchored to the stake in Honegger’s work, but her imagination ranges freely as she relives the highlights of her life and her faith—a faith that held she was sent directly by God to save 15th-century France from English occupation. “It’s an incredible work. It defies categorization,” says BSO Vice President of Artistic Operations Matthew Spivey.The BSO will perform the ambitious work at the Meyerhoff on November 17-18, and then on November 19 at Carnegie Hall. With 2012 marking the 600th anniversary of Joan of Arc’s birth, the iconic heroine again takes center stage later in the concert season when the BSO presents Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light (March 2-4), which will be performed in tandem with a screening of Carl Dreyer’s silent film, The Passion of Joan of Arc. The theme of spirituality runs through a variety of the BSO’s offerings this season, from the Joan of Arc works in November and March to Mahler’s Second Symphony (“Resurrection”), which opened the BSO’s season in September, to Handel’s Messiah in December. Music Director Marin Alsop says the symphonic orchestra is an ideal vehicle for artistic expressions of the spiritual.“The wonderful thing about classical music is that it’s not proscriptive.You don’t have to listen with any particular perspective or belief system in place.” At its essence, spiritual experience is universal.“In my estimation,” says Alsop,“spirituality should be about connecting RICHARD EINHORN
A
Joan of Arc’s spiritual journey gets the spotlight in a BSO season rich with offerings that raise universal questions that transcend the earthly boundaries of belief.