‘Beyond Land and Ocean’ strikes O.C.-inspired notes at Pacific Symphony
Following a hot summer performing at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, Orange County’s orchestra returned to its air-conditioned home Thursday to herald both the intimately familiar and mysteriously new.
The highlight of the Pacific Symphony’s 37th season opener, in Costa Mesa’s Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, was the new: “Beyond Land and Ocean,” a decidedly modern piece by Narong Prangcharoen, whose travels and conversations about Orange County inspired the piece. The Thai composer, now living in Kansas City, Mo., visited 61 Orange County landmarks — the largest portion of which happened to be in Costa Mesa, Newport Beach and Irvine — and logged 474 conversations with county residents.
“I wanted to have a piece that would paint a mural of what Orange County is,” Prangcharoen told the audience.
The roughly 20-minute work, led by longtime Pacific Symphony conductor Carl St.Clair, had sonically sinister beginnings, describing musically 4 a.m. in Newport Beach’s Back Bay. Contrabassoon, chimes, quietly wailing strings and rumbling piano nicely accompanied flutes meant to sound like awakening birds.
The scene, the composer told the audience, was the Back Bay “before the planes are about to take off” — a reference to nearby John Wayne Airport. With such an ominous tone, I felt Prangcharoen took some cues from the discouraging words about JWA by Newport residents, who have long opposed airport expansions and complained of takeoff noise.
“Beyond Land and Ocean” evolved into musical scenes depicting the “405 experience” — Orange County’s most infamously packed freeway — in a kind of rhythmic fashion accented by percussion and brass.
Later, perhaps most enjoyably, Prangcharoen took listeners into his compositional takes on O.C.’s varied cultures: passages inspired by mariachi — as told through orchestral strings — Japanese and Vietnamese music.
While billed as a new anthem for the people of Orange County — and quite possibly the first orchestral piece strictly about the region — the average concertgoer won’t be humming “Beyond Land and Ocean” tunes any time soon. Rather, he’ll be left with the variety of impressions about his home turf.
As program music meant to describe a specific setting, “Beyond Land and Ocean” accomplished the goal — as set forth by the “outsider” composer living in the Midwest. I would hope to hear it again on future programs — maybe as a regular feature — so I could continue to pick up on what I might have missed of his interpretations of familiar places in O.C.
During intermission, symphony organizers invited attendees to post their thoughts about “Beyond Land and Ocean” on orange-colored boards.
I thought one writer put things in perspective nicely: It was about “the pulse of living” in Orange County.
Following “Beyond Land and Ocean,” the symphony, accompanied by the Pacific Chorale and four soloists, achieved a memorable performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Bass-baritone Kevin Deas was a standout.
Though the orchestra regularly performs Beethoven’s monumental work, St.Clair, the chorale and orchestra took it on with admirable gusto. The Pacific Symphony sounded as polished as I’ve heard it in some time: wonderfully balanced and enthusiastic for the ageless symphony.
