There’s an old saying that if you want a standing ovation, play the national anthem at the end. Well, the Akron Symphony Orchestra, a Knight Arts grantee, did just that, but would have received a standing ovation in any case.

At the September 13 concert, Akron Symphony Orchestra celebrated the 200th anniversary to the day of the writing of our national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner,” by Francis Scott Key.

Before a large and appreciative audience, ASO opened and closed the concert with musical re-readings of the national anthem that was based on a British gentlemen’s club song, “To Anacreon in Heaven.” The tune hung around, but didn’t actually become the national anthem until 1931.

It wasn’t forgotten, however, as ASO shows when it first presented Dudley Buck’s 1879 “Festival Overture on the American National Air, The Star-Spangled Banner.” The seven minute piece is in a compact form, with each orchestra section introducing the familiar strains that we all know. Buck’s work ends with a rousing version of the anthem – and was written for optional chorus. In the ASO concert, the audience was invited to stand by maestro Christopher Wilkins, and to sing out.

Michael Gandolfi, composer. Photo from www.atlantasymphony.org

The end piece for the evening was Michael Gandolfi’s “Cheaspeake: Summer of 1814 for Chorus and Orchestra.” Written just last year, and done then so the work would be available for the 200th anniversary year, the monumental work – for orchestra, narrator and chorus – winds its way through historic events laced with contemporary music.

David Lieberth served as narrator of the text written by Boston author and editor Dana Bonstrom. Lieberth found the perfect tone for the mounting story of the burning of all public buildings in Washington, DC, including the White House; the drama in Baltimore, which in this work is depicted as the center of the storm that must be won to lead the war-torn and weary country out of danger; and the thrill of finding out that “the flag was still there.”

Musically, the work moves from the historical musical setting “To Anacreon in Heaven.” Another work laced through the history was a popular dance piece, “Durang’s Hornpipe,” a work used by America’s first professional dancer (and a favorite artist of George Washington).

The Symphony Chorus seemed to command the musical flavor of the works, perhaps best seen in their rendition of “Rule Britannia.” The work was stirring and forceful in their voices. Each word was easily understood – something that doesn’t usually happen with large choruses.

They also sang intertwined versions of “God Save the King” and “Yankee Doodle,” pieces which are brought together as the conflict centered on the Baltimore harbor and Fort McHenry, where lawyer Francis Scott Key was being held by the British after he had arranged for the release of a physician who was needed elsewhere.

The work finishes with the four verses of our national anthem, and a repeat of the first. That’s a nice touch, for one rarely gets to hear them. In fact, probably most people have no clue there are more verses.

Gandolfi built up the conclusion of the work masterfully by beginning the anthem with a couple of tenors, then adding in bass voices for harmony, then female voices. The song built further with additional singers being brought in for the remaining ones – an All City Choir to sing in one verse, and children from the Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts in another. The final verse, much in the fashion of the Buck work that began the concert, was with the audience standing to join in – with a much faster tempo – the familiar first verse.

Between these two works, ASO pretty much brought to life the classical music of the 1814 period. They presented two Ludwig van Beethoven works, both of which were composed, finished or presented around this same calendar period. The composer’s Fidelio Overture, Op. 72c was completed in 1814. Being Beethoven’s only opera, the work went through several transformations, ending with the one presented here. The work focuses on the ideas of liberation and rescue – both fitting the occasion surrounding the birth of the anthem as the United States struggled against British forces during the War of 1812.

ASO also presented Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 92, which was composed around the same year. The horns and winds balanced nicely for this humorous and upbeat work. The middle section featured the pulsing rhythm set by the woodwinds in imitation of a metronome – the tempo device invented by one of Beethoven’s friends. This work, too, ends with a rousing finish.

With a kind of musical joy in the making to keep the festive atmosphere going, after the intermission, ASO played Charles Ives’ “Variations on America” – and by that, he meant not the country per se, but the song. Written when Ives was but 17 years old, the piece has some obviousness about it as the song – which is the same melody as “God Save the King” (a reference to the USA/British conflict at the center of the evening’s themes) – goes through several ruffles and flourishes with swirling flute and violin musical tracings in the background.

The concert was musically, historically and emotional tied together – ordered to build on what came before it to end strong, rousing, and filled with proud feelings. It worked, and worked extremely well.