In a Crowded Field, the DeKalb Symphony Stakes Its Claim

 

In a Crowded Field, the DeKalb Symphony Stakes Its Claim

Metro Atlanta’s orchestral environment is unusually dense. Within a manageable driving radius, audiences may hear the flagship Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in Midtown, the Georgia Symphony Orchestra in Marietta, the Georgia Philharmonic in North Fulton, the Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra in the northern suburbs, and even the Macon-Mercer Symphony Orchestra farther south. Programming overlaps. Audiences fragment. Donor pools stretch. In such an ecosystem, artistic identity cannot simply be declared—it must be heard. The DeKalb Symphony Orchestra has recently charted a new direction for itself, articulating an ambition to elevate its profile and redefine how it is perceived within the region’s cultural landscape.

For the Symphony, the past year has been one of transition. Leadership decisions to reshape the roster and articulate elevated artistic goals prompted sometimes heated conversation within the ensemble and the broader community. Periods of recalibration inevitably invite reflection about direction and purpose. That sense of renewal formed part of the backdrop to this weekend’s concert.

Music Director Paul Bhasin, a conductor and educator with experience across symphonic and operatic repertoire, has guided the orchestra through this period with an emphasis on structural clarity and ensemble cohesion. Mr. Bhasin also holds the Donna and Marvin Schwartz Professorship in music at Emory University.

The concert took place in the sanctuary of First Baptist Church of Decatur, a space whose acoustics would prove central to the evening’s experience. Seemingly designed primarily to support the human voice, the room is dry and favors upper frequencies while offering limited reinforcement of the bass. The effect was apparent even before the music began: the pre-concert tuning and individual warmups were truly cacophonous—and strikingly loud—particularly from the brass preparing passages from the Kodály suite.

Against that context, the orchestra chose a program of substantial weight within the standard repertoire. Glinka’s Overture to Ruslan and Ludmila, Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1, and Kodály’s Háry János Suite are fixtures on major stages, and they place genuine demands on ensemble cohesion and stylistic clarity. Familiar repertoire can be unforgiving; it leaves little room for imprecision or stylistic uncertainty.

Mikhail Glinka, often regarded as the founder of Russian classical music, demonstrated that national identity could anchor serious art music. The Ruslan and Ludmila overture is propelled by rapid string figuration and bright wind punctuations, its energy dependent upon rhythmic unanimity and crisp articulation.

The DeKalb Symphony opened with a buoyant interpretation, though the overall effect was strikingly loud—an impression heightened by the room’s acoustics. The timpani punctuations were extraordinarily forceful; in reality, this likely reflected placement beneath a low overhang that pushed the sound forward with unusual intensity.

The violins were notably disciplined, producing a pleasing shimmer and impressive precision in the rapid passagework. Maestro Bhasin maintained steady rhythmic momentum throughout. Transitional phrases between major sections, however, occasionally sounded tentative, particularly where the scoring thins to only a few instruments. These exposed passages revealed moments of uncertainty that contrasted with the energy of the tuttis.

The evening’s centerpiece was Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1, beloved for its expansive Romantic lyricism. The concerto featured violinist Emily Daggett Smith, best known to Atlanta audiences as a member of the Vega Quartet.

This performance proved the highlight of the evening. Smith and Maestro Bhasin were clearly aligned in musical intention, and the orchestra consistently supported without overwhelming the soloist. Smith produced a large, resonant tone that drew every ounce of Romantic warmth from the score. The outer movements, particularly the first and third, possessed clarity of direction and confident pacing.

Only in the Adagio did the music lose some forward motion. The movement itself can resist momentum, lacking the structural propulsion of its companions, and here the orchestra occasionally seemed to settle rather than sustain. Even so, the dominant impression was the strength and assurance of Smith’s playing.

The program concluded with Zoltán Kodály’s Háry János Suite, a colorful orchestral work drawn from the composer’s opera about a boastful Hungarian folk hero. The suite places considerable demands on orchestral players, shifting rapidly between lyricism, martial vigor, and folk-inflected rhythms. The DeKalb Symphony’s musicians approached these challenges with evident commitment.

The opening Prelude exposed balance issues. Because the room absorbs lower frequencies, the initial entrance of the low strings was largely lost. The brass section was strong and assertive throughout, though at times the sound bordered on shrill—again more a function of the acoustic environment than of execution. The horns struggled intermittently with intonation.

Kodály’s score calls for a cimbalom, a hammered dulcimer central to Hungarian folk music. Here an electronic keyboard took the place of a cimbalom, and it produced a more metallic timbre than the original instrument, yet it was a serviceable substitute. Occasionally the line felt slightly behind the beat, though this may have been an artifact of electronic response rather than ensemble coordination.

Taken as a whole, the concert demonstrated both ambition and seriousness of purpose. The DeKalb Symphony selected repertoire that tests discipline and stylistic awareness, and the ensemble met those demands with energy and visible engagement.

The sanctuary of First Baptist Church deserves recognition for providing a home to the Symphony, yet the acoustic presents challenges that should generate careful calibration of balance and dynamic range in the future. The overall volume frequently approached discomfort, suggesting that subtle dynamic adjustment may allow the orchestra’s strengths to emerge more clearly in this space.

Even so, the broader impression was of an ensemble intent on growth. In a region crowded with orchestras, ambition must ultimately be audible. On the evidence of this performance, the DeKalb Symphony appears well on its way. Listeners curious about how that trajectory continues would do well to attend future concerts and hear the next chapter for themselves.