THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 18, 1996 TAG: 9603180077
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: CONCERT REVIEW
SOURCE: BY LEE TEPLY
SPECIAL TO THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
From a purely musical standpoint, the expected highlight of North Carolina Dance Theatre's Saturday performance at Chrysler Hall was Igor Stravinsky's ``The Rite of Spring.''
The 1913 masterpiece was both the culmination of the composer's first creative period and a ground-breaker that opened new worlds for composers to explore.
Conductor Andrew Sill led the Virginia Symphony through the challenging score, with remarkable precision and, from the winds at least, tremendous power. But the greatly reduced string section did not balance the winds, even though there were fewer than Stravinsky had called for. The string sound was completely muted at many climactic moments and, along with it, some important melodic and rhythmic material went unheard.
The percussion section, often the force behind the rest of the orchestra in this performance, broke out in several explosive instants. Just about every wind player had solos, all of which projected well into the room. Those bits were carefully shaped to fit into the overall scheme. In softer passages, the strings had a dark, weighty sound.
Yet despite all its strengths, the basic power of the music was often lost in this ``chamber music'' version.
The first half of the program had two works that, although composed around the time of ``The Rite of Spring,'' were selected from a completely different sound world. Sergei Prokofiev's ``Visions Fugitives,'' a set of rather frivolous piano miniatures from 1915-17 were heard on an unidentified recording.
The orchestra gave a polished performance of Aaron Copland's ``Rodeo'' (1942). Syncopations were given plenty of bounce, effectively matching the dancers' jumps. A sweet sound was drawn from the strings in the slow sections of the ballet, in which the relaxed pace created just the right mood. Only in the last section, the well-known ``Hoe-Down,'' did the approach seem too cautious, and perhaps too slow, to keep the energy level high. ILLUSTRATION: CONCERT REVIEW
What: Virginia Symphony
and North Carolina Dance
Theatre
Where: Chrysler Hall
When: Saturday evening
by CNB