By Dov Gerzweig
Imagine Enya singing a specially created score with orchestra for The Little Mermaid, with sea creatures performing Cirque du Soleil-worthy gymnastics and dances against a backdrop of footage of the Great Barrier Reef, and you might begin to get a sense of the scope of David Arkenstone’s Symphonic Adventure. I was fortunate to be in the audience for the March 16 performance at Glendale’s splendid Alex Theatre, where I was so sensually immersed in the sounds and sights of this epic performance—musicians, singers, acrobats, dancers, several video screens, plus David Arkenstone, himself a veritable one-man band—that it was difficult to know where to focus my attention at any given moment because I didn’t want to miss a thing. The experience out front was lush, astonishing, captivating, but the view from the orchestra for an event like this is especially poignant. Violinist Dov Gertzweig is generally a man of few words and many musical notes. Here, however, he waxes eloquent with the inside story of the making and experience of David Arkenstone’s Symphonic Adventure. —Abigail Lewis
David Arkenstone’s musical journey for the past several decades has been as a pioneer in many genres, including new age, Celtic, world, ambient and orchestral, as well as film, tv and video game scores. His recent Symphonic Adventure explored uncharted waters with a multidimensional undersea experience in epic proportions.
The audience was bedazzled with a visual and audial spectacle of dance, acrobatics, costumes and fully orchestrated Arkenstone compositions. Throughout, screens behind the stage and bookending it showed a steady stream of colorful washes and nature scenes. I couldn’t see these last,
however, as I was seated in the string section playing my violin in the 35-piece orchestra; I was ensconced in the midst of the magic.
I’d toured and performed with Arkenstone in more mobile and compact formats, including the alternately icy cold and sweaty costumed heat at fanciful Texas Ren Fairs, a lakeside summer art festival in Milwaukee, a steamy Mayan-style stone theater in Aguascalientes, Mexico, and on multiple jazz club stages and recording studio concerts during a foggy northern California tour. But this was the first time I’d seen David soar in his element, surrounded by a cast on par with a major symphonic concert.
Finally he was able to activate his entire arsenal of musical wizardry, with John Serrie on synths, Eric Rigler onbagpipes, wondrous violin virtuoso Karen Briggs and a full string section, wind and brass sections, and a surprise jazz band ensemble. A full triple percussion and drum set-up, guitar and bass still left room for David to play not just one but eight or nine instruments; it was easy to lose count. And let’s not forget the opera diva and 16-voice choir.
Arkenstone’s 50+ CD output from his dynamic career as a champion of imaginative music supplied ample choices of material, and the music was not only fun to play, but also an emotional and mythic journey through time and space. It took initiative, creative passion and the skills of a small village of 220 to create the bold event, which followed the vision of Arkenstone and former movie-producer/manager Victoria Paige Meyerink.
The first half of the show was the premiere of Lovéren, a mini-opera of sorts, with singer-collaborator Charlee Brooks in the lead role vocally and dramatically. Clad in a series of elegant costumes, she sang hauntingly beautiful songs. Joining her were the acrobats of Cirque de la Symphonie, who leapt through a progression of shape and movement. The acrobats and dancers portrayed Steven Vlasak’s story of a young mermaid caught in a net of love, and the music captured magical seasons of love and jubilation.
Acrobats dangled and twisted in scarves hung on high, and a young contortionist pretzeled his body into astonishing, graceful shapes. Another performer executed athletic feats with what looked to be a square metal box frame so rapidly as to nearly blur the lines.
Happily I’d seen some of this in rehearsal; as an orchestra member I had to force myself to stay focused on the music and the baton of conductor Seth Osburn, lest I lose myself in the pageantry of the production. With vocals in “Mermish” and oceanic moodiness, the experience was of playing below the water in Atlantis.
Throughout the course of the show—the second half featured Arkenstone favorites such as Valley in the Clouds, Kylas Ride, Songs from Atlantis, Zanzibar, and the wild pirate sounds and rhythm of Stormcry—Arkenstone played his compositions on several guitars, grand piano, wind instruments, drums, harmonium, accordion, and a xylophone he created.
Fortunately, Lovéren is available on a newly released CD (QDV), and the entire show was filmed and will be available on DVD. We can only hope that a sharp eye at PBS picks it up for TV airtime, where it’s sure to find a rapt audience.
—Dov Gertzweig
Photos courtesy Gilbert Baghramian
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