PaviElle French leads with her heart.
Well-schooled in soul and gospel, the St. Paul singer first gained my attention in a Penumbra Theatre "Black Nativity" production years ago, not only for her gospel vocals, but for how she emotionally expressed herself at every opportunity.
French has since established herself as a unique talent, creating original R&B with a jazz-rock fusion flair at Twin Cities clubs with her band. Four years ago, she wanted to summon larger forces to express musically what was in her heart, so she called up the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Soon, she was onstage at the Ordway Concert Hall, premiering a symphonic eulogy she'd created in her mother's memory.
On Thursday, French was back on the Ordway stage, helping the SPCO close its season with another new work, "Sands of Time," in which the songwriter-cum-composer explored the concept of love from a variety of angles. Commissioned by Bill and Susan Sands in honor of their 50th anniversary, it's a song cycle for vocalist, pianist and orchestra at its most powerful when French plays to her ample instincts.
It makes up half of the orchestra's final program of the season, the concert completed by Beethoven's Fourth Symphony. At Thursday's early evening "happy hour" concert, the orchestra dove deeply into disparate sound worlds yet pulled off the task with aplomb, the musicians clearly trusting their own hearts to make for a sonorous convergence of styles.
"Sands of Time" is, essentially, an orchestral song cycle, with French serving such an essential role as vocalist and pianist that it's hard to imagine the work in anyone else's hands. Over the course of eight songs or instrumental interludes, she shines a light on multiple aspects of love, serving up many a reminder of what a powerhouse vocalist she is, especially on the movements "Give Me Your Love" and "Breaking Free," scintillating scatting closing the latter.
French's jazz chops continued to come through in the piece's strongest section, "The Dance of Life," and its attendant instrumental interlude, when things became considerably freer in spirit. She and trumpeter Lynn Erickson engaged in unisons and involving exchanges before Erickson took flight for a spine-tingling solo of her own. This was when I felt most powerfully that the SPCO was truly helping French find her voice.
So high-volume and emotionally emphatic was "Sands of Time" that it seemed to take the SPCO much of the first movement of Beethoven's Fourth to settle into the subtlety required of this very 18th-century-esque symphony. But the orchestra's way with varied dynamics soon took hold, and the Adagio cast a becoming spotlight on the woodwinds. Whereas French's piece sometimes sounded as if screaming for a larger symphony orchestra, this Beethoven was right in the SPCO's wheelhouse, growing crisper by the movement, rumbling to a spirited conclusion like a high-speed train.
Most years, the SPCO musicians would be saying, "See you in September," to one another after this weekend's concerts. But they're traveling together to Colorado's Bravo! Vail Music Festival for three concerts, June 23-26, the first of which will conclude with Beethoven's Fourth. Judging from Thursday's performance, it should be a fine showcase for the orchestra's marvelous musicianship.
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra
With: Conductor Chia Hsuan-Lin and vocalist/pianist PaviElle French.
What: Works by French and Beethoven.
When: 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., 2 p.m. Sun.
Where: Ordway Concert Hall, 345 Washington St., St. Paul.
Tickets: $50-$10 (students and children free), available at 651-291-1144 or thespco.org.
Note: Saturday evening's concert will be livestreamed at thespco.org.
Rob Hubbard is a Twin Cities classical music writer. wordhub@yahoo.com.
