Auburn Symphony season finale should bring 'massive sound': Rachmaninoff & Saint-Saëns: The Organ Symphony

There is no shortage of peculiar anecdotes in the annals of music history. However, few morsels of orchestral arcana are as tasty to symphony buffs as the backstory of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, his most famous – and to many listeners, the most famous – piano concerto of all time. Paralyzed by three years of writer's block following a disastrous first symphony in St. Petersburg – a performance one critic claimed would "delight the inhabitants of Hell" – 23-year-old Rachmaninoff took up illicit sessions of hypnosis, a practice banned in 19th-century Russia. Within a year, Rachmaninoff completed his masterpiece, which he credited to the work of his hypnotherapist, Dr. Nikolai Dahl. "Although it may sound incredible," he wrote, "this cure really helped me." Audience members likely won't need psychic intervention to attend this special Auburn Symphony performance. At 3 p.m. Sunday, May 10, Ryan Murray will conduct a stirring season finale at the Robert & Margrit Mondavi Center for the Arts at UC Davis. "It has stunning acoustics," Murray said of the Mondavi Center, also citing its much larger stage and seating for up to 1,500, compared to fewer than 500 at their usual home in the Placer High School Theater. The larger stage allows for larger instruments, like the full-sized digital pipe organ – and its accompanying 15-plus speakers – that will gallop through Camille Saint-Saëns' Symphony No. 3, also known as "The Organ Symphony." Murray promises it will be a "massive sound." Auburn Symphony member Faythe Vollrath, typically on piano and harpsichord, will be the one to harness that sound. "It moves from angst and sadness through triumph," she said, explaining that the piece transitions from "dark color" into a "huge, giant C major chord – about as loud as you can play the organ." "That chord is a hallmark of this piece that a lot of people remember," she added. "The heavens open up. It's an amazing wash of sound." Vollrath will also play organ in The Wreckers Overture by Ethel Smyth, a composer writing in the 19th and 20th centuries whose music – like many female composers of that era – "didn't get the plays it deserved," Murray said. "But she's finding her way into the repertoire." Smyth's overture, which is excerpted from her much longer seafaring opera, contains "bouncy pirate themes with beautiful long lines," Murray said. "Smyth was writing in the same tonal language as Saint-Saëns." While popular, the pieces by Smyth and Saint-Saëns take a rear seat to the enduring legacy of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. Parker Van Ostrand, a 22-year-old student of Garrick Ohlsson and Yoshikazu Nagai at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and past winner of the Young Artists Competition, will be among the elite pianists of the last 12 decades to perform the masterpiece. "It's one of the most romantic piano concertos," Van Ostrand said. "The whole piece builds up to the end. When you finally reach that last theme, you feel like you made it." Performing for the first time at the Mondavi Center, Van Ostrand has also made it. "Parker is an emerging young professional," Murray said. "I think his career is going to really take off in the next couple years. It is exciting to bring him back to Auburn as a major up-and-comer." Though the season ends with this finale, Murray won't get much of a break. He transitions to his summer conducting schedule, then resumes the Auburn Symphony program Sept. 19. Until then, this finale presents the last chance for audience members to celebrate the conclusion of another successful season. For those who prefer not to drive, a bus will be available for transport to and from the Mondavi Center. The bus departs at 1 p.m. from the Auburn Public Library parking lot at 350 Nevada Street. For more information, visit www.mondaviarts.org or call 530-754-2787. To purchase tickets for the Mondavi bus, visit https://ci.ovationtix.com/35659/production/1243751?performanceId=11656280 or https://auburnsymphony.com/concert/season-finale-saint-saens-the-organ-symphony/ Michael Rohm is a writer whose work has taken him around the world, covering topics from war in Ukraine to land rights in Madagascar. Past articles with the Auburn Journal include wildfires, river cleanup and arts in the city. AUBURN SYMPHONY Season finale: Rachmaninoff & Saint-Saëns When: 3 p.m. Sunday, May 10 Where: Robert & Margrit Mondavi Center for the Arts at UC Davis. A bus will be available for transport to and from the Mondavi Center. The bus departs at 1 p.m. from the Auburn Public Library parking lot at 350 Nevada Street. Information: 530-754-2787 or www.mondaviarts.org