Loud Splash BY Rick Walters Young composers usually want to make a loud splash. Judging from Avenues , performed at Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra last weekend, Theodore Shapiro has that need to be heard at a high volume. He's good with texture, rhythmic layering and orchestration, though he could use more lean clarity in his writing.
Avenues shows more potential than profundity.
It sounds decidedly American, rather like Bernstein at his most assertive, with a casual dose of Charles Ives thrown in. There's a quiet, off-stage piano part, reminiscent of a vague hymn, predictably taken up later by the onstage soloist. The city overtakes the pianist's solitude, returning to the street rhythms in conclusion. The main problem with Avenues is that it is somewhat unsophisticated in its metaphor of the exterior world versus interior peace of the individual. The piano part is too much relentless rhythmic bombast, although Pratt made quite an impression on the audience with his percussive panache.