Phish's Trey Doin' It For the Kids
By Robin Rothman
vh1.com
It should have been clear, when Phish
singer/guitarist Trey Anastasio's name didn't
appear on the tickets, that his performance
Friday, February 2, with the Vermont Youth
Orchestra in Troy, N.Y., was not to be about
him, or any other individual.
As VYO music director Troy Peters phrased it in his brief welcoming
statement, the show, which took place at the Troy Savings Bank Music
Hall, was to be "about relationships" - between students and teachers,
between classical and popular music, and between musicians and their
audience.
But the audience was almost entirely made up of Phish heads, with only
a smattering of proud parents, including Anastasio's own father, in
attendance. The question remained to be answered: Could Phish heads
behave themselves?
Fans were still milling about the small theater as the approximately 80
high-school musicians, all formally dressed, took their seats and began
tuning their instruments. The stage, enhanced to support the large
ensemble, was arranged with two sections of violins to the left and one
to the right, next to a section of cellos. Horns and percussion were in
back rows, behind a dominating grand piano.
"We get a lot more pumped [for a special show like this]," 17-year-old
violinist and five-year VYO veteran Aaron Davis said before the show
began. "It's a totally different feeling, playing with someone of such a
high stature. You get to give people who don't normally listen to
classical music a chance to experience all different types of music in one
setting."
At the conductor's podium, Peters introduced the opening piece, noting
that its composer Samuel Barber was a distant relative of Anastasio's
musical mentor, Ernie Stires. He then launched the group into "First
Essay for Orchestra." The second piece, Richard Strauss' "Horn
Concerto No. 1 in E flat major," featuring Burlington (Vermont) High
School senior Jocelyn Crawford on the French horn, was a subtle
continuation of the evening's theme. As Peters' program notes explain,
Strauss wrote the concerto as a tribute to his father, Franz Strauss.
Finally, it was time for the fold-out chair and the portable Fender amp
to the left of the conductor's platform to be used: Phish tour manager
Brad Sands soon appeared with sheet music in hand, and within
seconds, Anastasio walked onstage to the stomping of the orchestra
members and the rowdy applause of the audience.
As the program notes explained, Stires composed the third number
"Chat Rooms," "on commission ... as a virtuoso vehicle for his best
known student." The tune challenged Anastasio, as the naturally
improvisational performer counted off the notes, attentive to the music
sheets in front of him. When the music came to an abrupt break after
one particularly intense portion, he seemed genuinely taken aback,
mouthing "Wow!," then positioning himself for the third and last
movement of the piece.
The fourth piece, Stires' "Samson Riffs," best represented the
collaborative nature of the evening's selections. Its composer joined the
orchestra on piano for the evening's musical climax. The suite began
with an emotion-filled duet between mentor and student, accompanied
only by a swing drumbeat. Floating into a brass-heavy version of
Anastasio's "Samson Variation," the piece closed with "Samson
Counterpart," a finale penned by Peters that overlapped the two other
parts. Anastasio then left the stage to join his family and watch the end
of the show.
After a brief composition by Maurice Ravel, one of the Phish frontman's
major influences, Peters introduced the final piece, which would be for
many the highlight of the concert. This orchestral arrangement
combined two popular Phish tunes, "My Friend, My Friend," from 1993's
Rift, and "Guyute," from 1998's Story of the Ghost, described by Peters
as "separated at birth twins." From beginning to end, fans turned to
one another, eyes wide, jaws agape, nodding in approval.
"Honestly, I was never a fan of the song 'Guyute,' " 24-year-old
front-row fanatic Brooke Carlson of Phoenix said. "But this performance
gave a whole new feeling and meaning to the song. It will never be the
same."
Returning to the stage for an encore, Anastasio moved his chair to the
now-empty conductors' block, as the four front musicians (three on
violin and one on cello) pulled in closer to him for the acoustic
instrumental "Inlaw Josie Wales," from last year's Farmhouse.
While fans filed out of the venue, and a crowd gathered by the
musicians' entrance, a group of teens from Latham, N.Y., offered their
opinion of the show. "I think they should have let Trey play longer. Play
some of the [Phish] songs," one said. "Let him sing," said another. "It
would have been nice with Fishman, Page and Mike backing him up."
And the rest of the crew nodded in agreement.
But 17-year-old Matt "L.T." Fleming of Greenville, S.C., had a different
opinion. "I was glad Trey didn't play longer," he said. "He was in a
background role, and he was embracing it. He was looking at the
conductor and looking at the kids the same way they were looking at
him. It was mutual respect all night long."
"You could see how proud Trey was," 25-year old Brian Scannelli of
Denville, N.J., said, adding, "It's a sign of things to come." |
