Quintessential French

Jan Latham-Koenig conducts the Riverside Symphonia for its season finale in Lambertville.

By: Susan Van Dongen

"Guest
Jan Latham-Koenig is the renowned music director of the Strasbourg (France) Philharmonic Orchestra.


   Even though he left the area more than two years ago, conductor Mariusz Smolij’s influence still touches the Riverside Symphonia. It was he who suggested inviting Jan Latham-Koenig to guest conduct the group in its spring season finale concerts, May 9-10 at the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Lambertville.
   Mr. Latham-Koenig, the renowned music director of the Strasbourg (France) Philharmonic Orchestra, had just conducted a series of concerts at a music festival in Warclow, Poland, including a performance of Karel Szymanowski’s opera King Roger. Mr. Smolij — a native of Poland — heard one of the concerts and asked Mr. Latham-Koenig to bring his eclectic background to Lambertville.
   It will be interesting for the group to have a guest conductor from Europe, but it also will be a new experience for Mr. Latham-Koenig. Born in England in 1953, of French, Polish and Danish descent, he’s never been to the eastern United States.
   "My work has exclusively been in Europe, except for the mid-’80s when I did some work with the St. Paul Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic," he says, speaking from his home in London during a brief stop there.
   In homage to his Gallic heritage, Mr. Latham-Koenig has put together an all-French program for the Lambertville concerts, with works by Maurice Ravel, Camille Saint-Säens, Claude Debussy and Erik Satie. Cellist Steve Doane will perform the Saint-Säens Cello Concerto in A minor, and harpist André Tarantiles will be featured in Debussy’s "Danse sacrée et danse profane."
   "I’m part French myself and have always had a great affinity for the repertoire," Mr. Latham-Koenig says. "It’s a sensible idea for my debut (in Lambertville) to do the music with which I feel the most at ease. It also suits this kind of orchestra, which is a very flexible group, at home in a variety of styles. They don’t do an excessive amount of French repertoire, so it will be something a little different."
   Mr. Latham-Koenig says the concerts will balance well-known works with a couple of unusual selections, including Satie’s "Jack in the Box," written for a small orchestra and arranged by Satie’s friend, Darius Milhaud.
   "Like all of Satie’s music, ‘Jack in the Box’ is an excellent piece and very tongue-in-cheek," Mr. Latham-Koenig says. "He was a bit of a joker, because he was less regarded than some of his contemporaries, which made him rather bitter. So he made his mark as an iconoclast. Satie was as famous for his character and eccentric personality as he was for his music, which was interesting in its calligraphy as well as its musical concepts. His best music was ahead of its time and you don’t see it performed (by orchestras) in the U.S. very often."
   Although Satie’s melodies may not be as familiar as Debussy’s, they pop up in the strangest places. Mr. Latham-Koenig recently detected one of Satie’s works buried in an electronica mix.
   "I was in the gym working out and heard this ghastly music," he says. "Through this haze of sonorities I realized they had taken the tune of one of the ‘Gymnopedies.’"
   Through the international phone connection one can hear him laugh when asked if Satie might have liked having his composition used in a 21st-century Euro-pop workout mix. Perhaps he would have smiled at the pun — a gymnopedie in the gym.
   "He did believe in background music," Mr. Latham-Koenig says, dryly.
   A notable interpreter of contemporary music, Mr. Latham-Koenig has enjoyed great success with a wide range of ensembles and orchestras in the British Isles, Europe and Japan. A graduate of London’s Royal College of Music, he has conducted most of the major orchestras in Britain and has been music director of the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Opéra du Rhin for eight years. During that time, he built the Strasbourg Philharmonic into one of Europe’s most prestigious orchestras.
   Mr. Latham-Koenig and the Strasbourg Philharmonic are also recording a number of CDs of exclusively French music for the Avie record label — a new relationship for the group. The first release, which features Cesar Franck’s Symphony in D minor, received great critical praise. The second CD, a recording of compositions by Jacques Ibert, was chosen as Editor’s Choice in the December 2002 edition of Gramophone Magazine.
   "Nobody had heard Ibert’s ‘Perseus and Andromeda,’" Mr. Latham-Koenig says. "It’s an undiscovered masterpiece and another example of the vast amount of undiscovered or unjustly neglected music out there. I’m a great believer in Ibert’s music. He was a kind of Orson Welles case — someone who did everything best when he was a young man."
   He has also recorded with some of Europe’s finest solo violinists and looks forward to working with Mr. Doane on the Saint-Säens concerto.
   "This is Saint-Säens at his most inspired," Mr. Latham-Koenig says. "He’s an underrated composer, but I think he can compete with the great French composers of the same era. He was so fluid and published so much. He was also a magnificent orchestrator, one who never makes the sonorities too heavy.
   Adjusting to a different country and an unfamiliar group of musicians will be just a couple of the tasks facing Mr. Latham-Koenig for the May concerts. However, he is most concerned with bringing out the heart of the music, as the composers envisioned it.
   "The special challenge will be finding the quintessential French style," he says. "But I’m sure it will come off."
The Riverside Symphonia conducted by Jan Latham-Koenig, performs with guest artists Steven Doane on cello and André Tarantiles on harp, at the Church of St. John the Evangelist, 44 Bridge St., Lambertville, May 9-10, 8 p.m. Tickets cost $19-$27. Free admission for senior citizens to dress rehearsal, May 8, 7:30 p.m. For information, call (609) 397-7300. On the Web: www.riversidesymphonia.org