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Claudio Ribeiro Terrific Conductor
Contributed by: Robin McNeil on 11/1/2007

I had the great pleasure Monday night, October 29, to attend the graduate recital of Claudio Ribeiro. He is receiving his Master's Degree in Conducting from DU. But, you must understand, he is a remarkable conductor who has a great deal of conducting experience in his native Brazil, as well as Italy, and here in Denver. In Brazil he conducted the Blumenau Chamber orchestra and the Porto Alegre Symphony Orchestra. In Colorado, he is the Assistant Conductor of the Lamont Symphony Orchestra, and he made a very important debut with the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra.

For his program, he chose the Bach Orchestral Suite Nr. 1, the Saint-Seans Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, Stravinsky's Symphonies for Winds, and the Mozart Symphony Nr. 35, the Haffner.

I have watched him closely as he conducted the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra, and was really quite struck by the economy of his movements. In his recital performance, he made no flamboyant gestures, for example, like Leonard Bernstein, but he was very confident and precise. The enthusiasm with which his direction was received by the musicians made it clear that even in rehearsal he was not dictatorial - he simply was insistent, intelligent, and understated. The Bach was perfect Bach. It was clear and well delineated. But what was so appreciated was the rhythmic pulse that he gave this work. So many concert goers seem to think that Bach was a dyspeptic old codger, I suppose because of the stern portrait painted of him holding his newly composed canon that won him the job at the St. Thomas church, but Ribeiro made him smile.

The Saint-Seans was very well done. It was light and airy and very mellifluous. He was very sure of his violin soloist, Laura Anderson, who I might add, was superb. This young lady is truly extraordinary - she was always on pitch, and she had the kind of technique that made everything so easy. The eye contact between them was never over done. I mention this only because some conductors at the national and international level, who have become afflicted with ego-disease, literally beam at the soloist so that the audience can see how magnanimous they are. These two individuals, Ribeiro and Anderson, just made gorgeous music.

For me, one of the highlights of this recital was the Stravinsky Symphonies for Wind Instruments. It was commissioned by Le Revue Musicale upon the death of his friend Claude Debussy, who encouraged Stravinsky, particularly after hearing the premier of The Firebird in 1910. In a letter to Stravinsky, Debussy wrote:

"Your growing mastery makes certain people uncomfortable, and if you are not already dead it is no fault of theirs. . . . For someone like me, who is on his way down the other side of the hill but still in possession of an ardent passion for music, there is a special satisfaction in declaring how much you have enlarged the boundaries of the permissible in the Empire of Sound. Pardon these rather grandiloquent words, but they express my thoughts precisely!"

I think that Stravinsky would have been very pleased with Ribeiro's conducting. He followed the score, and there was none of the exaggerated "Stravinsky-isms" that so many conductors inflict on this composer (I speak of exaggerated dynamics and unasked-for accents that some conductors, Mehta, for example, inject into the Right of Spring). I had the unimaginable good fortune in graduate school to be able - with about 12 other classmates - to talk with Stravinsky for about two hours. When I asked him what the most difficult aspect of composition was, he answered that it was not the writing of the music. He said it was writing the music so that it would be "conductor proof." Ribeiro had no trouble with all the meter changes, and he was able to communicate what he wanted from the ensemble. He simply expected it, and he got it. Beautiful!

The other highlight of the evening was the Mozart. The tempo of the first movement - indeed, all of the movements - was perfect. It was in this work that Ribeiro's conducting became a little more fluid and (seemingly) more relaxed. Again, the ensemble - mostly different musicians this time - produced such a clear sound. It was very transparent that all of the nuances came through to the listener. The last movement, which Mozart wanted to be played as fast as possible, might have been a little slower than some other interpretations, but it is to Ribeiro's credit that the orchestra really articulated every note, and that fact made it seem as though the tempo were faster.

The point is really this: Claudio Ribeiro was conducting a student ensemble. He was able to pull a great deal of music from them while making the whole process enjoyable for them as well as the audience. The orchestra roundly applauded him at the end of the recital - and so did the audience. How many conductors, while making great music, make the orchestra happy?


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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Robin McNeil

Littleton , CO

Robin McNeil has posted 723 stories and 0 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. Robin McNeil 's average story rating is 5.
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