Vocalists Brook Wood, left, and Aaron Finley flank Principal Pops Conductor Stuart Chafetz during the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra’s performance of “A Symphonic Celebration of Genesis & Phil Collins” Saturday night in the Amphitheater.
When Phil Collins began his solo music career in the early 1980s, he quickly reached dizzying commercial success. His formula, if he had one, favored melodic songwriting and sounds made on Roland drum machines and analog synthesizers. This stood apart from the more revved-up progressive pop arrangements he explored in his band Genesis.
If rock and symphonic work occupy two ends of the same scale, Collins’ approach has always sat firmly on the rock side. This is why experiencing the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra’s 70-plus active musicians bring Collins’ work to life, as they did Saturday at the Amphitheater, felt like an event.
“A Symphonic Celebration of Genesis & Phil Collins with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra” ensured that unexpected things happen when living instruments dig into 40-year-old mechanized pop.
Chafetz, left, who was the CSO’s longtime timpanist, joins Principal Percussionist Brian Kushmaul for the drum break of Collins’ “In the Air Tonight.”
Principal Pops Conductor Stuart Chafetz led the charge from the podium and also acted as the evening’s de facto host. In a gold tuxedo, Chafetz doled out Collins trivia — did you know his scene as an extra in “A Hard Day’s Night” got cut from the final film? — and thrice shimmied across the stage to bang on a second drum kit.
Collins, a gifted percussionist who just happened to be one of the most gifted pop songwriters of his moment, would be proud.
The first kit was occupied by Principal Percussionist Brian Kushmaul, whose pounding tempos set the tone for the entire performance. Chafetz joined him to deliver Collins’ iconic drum break on “In the Air Tonight” late in the show. Indeed, it felt like the entire performance built up to this moment, though it landed early in the second half instead of as its grand conclusion.
This freed up the performers to hone in on other Collins gems, like several big singles he released with Genesis throughout the ’80s and many of his United States No. 1s, like 1989’s “Another Day in Paradise.” The CSO turned up the funk for “I Missed Again,” an early solo R&B venture, and made space for a scene-setting saxophone solo.
Kushmaul’s best moments arrived as he delivered intricate rhythms on the Genesis tune “Throwing It All Away,” performed as an instrumental, and through his militaristic precision on the angry “I Don’t Care Anymore.”
Joining Chafetz and Kushmaul were featured guest vocalists Aaron Finley and Brook Wood, who took certain songs for themselves and often joined together in rapturous harmony. Finley’s a Broadway talent; he has appeared in Moulin Rouge! since its 2019 opening. He couldn’t summon Collins’ snarl for “I Don’t Care Anymore” but nailed the staccato repetition of “no more” in the song’s closing moments.
Wood, meanwhile, channeled the power of classic rockers like Freddie Mercury, an ability that placed Collins’ material in an enticing new light. Collins’ voice, a reedy instrument of certain British origin, can neither belt nor bellow. But Finley and Wood turbo-charged Collins’ vocal melodies, creating a new way of hearing them. They had to, given the sheer number of musicians on stage and Kushmaul’s booming percussion.
“No Reply at All,” a swirling Genesis number from 1981, received a soaring bridge courtesy of Finley. Wood, meanwhile, owned the funky “That’s All,” and both shared a single mic for a sweet, Disney-ready ending to “Follow You Follow Me.”
The CSO shined without the vocalists on “One More Night,” Collins’ No. 1 hit from 1985. Stripped of big voices and Collins’ synthesizers, the song mellowed into yacht rock. I’d never before considered a Collins tune laidback and serene with a hint of whimsy. Thus was the joy of the symphonic transformation.
“In the Air Tonight” may have a dozen notable covers and samples, including several in country music in 2023. But no moment felt bigger in the Amp than when the wonderfully nonsensical “Sussudio” burst forth from the horn section. The crowd clapped along, and Chafetz even danced from the podium to center stage, prompting Finley to rechristen the song “Stu-Studio.”
As a pop artifact, “Sussudio” remains perfect, a delirious bit of sonic candy that feels like its own four-minute universe. When Finley and Wood joined to deliver the chorus, their alchemy seemed to lift the entire stage about 20 feet in the air. It felt so good when they just said the word, one might say. “If you’re capable of doing that, then why would you even need language?” music critic Tom Breihan once wrote of the song’s titular gobbledegook.
This is the magic that musical reinterpretation can offer. When the CSO performed the big, bright keyboard melodies of “Invisible Touch” on horns, the effect was akin to meeting an internet friend in real life. Stripped of decoration and without a digital intermediary, all that remained was the genuine article. A great hook sounded even brighter played by human breath instead of a glowing button.
Case in point: The show’s second half peaked with “Take Me Home,” the horizon-spanning song that closes Collins’ album No Jacket Required. It’s apparently about institutionalization, and it’s probably a metaphor for Collins’ creative or personal unfulfillment, but the music skitters and crawls with uncertainty even as it’s ultimately triumphant.
The unrest comes from a particularly insidious keyboard line that rattles around for the song’s duration. When the CSO played it, that part came through on strings and woodwinds, warm and curious.
On record, Collins sings the song himself through multi-tracked vocals. He sounds paranoid but determined. It’s a big part of the song’s lasting appeal. In the Amp, Finley and Wood — in a suit and a glittering disco ball jacket, respectively — traded off verses before joining for the conquering chorus. Chafetz endured a costume change, too, swapping gold for purple.
They had reinvented their looks without warning, a nice reminder that music can do the same. A pop song can endure thousands of different arrangements. But when you get it right, it’s good forever.
Patrick Hosken is an arts writer for Rochester’s CITY Magazine and an adjunct professor at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School.
