Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 25, 1990 TAG: 9004250034
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: SETH WILLIAMSON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Performing in Virginia Tech's Burruss Hall Auditorium, Glazebrook led his players through an evening of crowd-pleasers which ended with a gratifying appearance by pianist Mary Louise Hallauer.
The New River Valley Symphony is quite good considering that it's based in a university community without a long tradition of fine arts.
The ensemble is supplemented by the core string quintet of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, but otherwise all the performers are Virginia Tech faculty and students and amateur players from nearby communities.
It is not as accomplished a group as the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, but it has strong performers in nearly every section and has rarely disappointed this reviewer over the past several years.
Saturday night's program included the Prelude to Richard Wagner's "Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg;" "Gli Ucelli" [The Birds] by Ottorino Respighi; and the Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16, by Edvard Grieg.
The Wagner was rich, majestic and full, but it revealed one shortcoming that was evident throughout this concert: with only two players, there was not enough mass in the doublebass section.
At moments when their presence should have been felt, they were inaudible toward the rear of this hall, and one listener at front and center reported they were hard to hear. This concert did mark the return of RSO doublebassist William Johnston, who has been suffering from an inflamed tendon in his bowing arm.
The 20th-century Italian composer Ottorino Respighi's "Gli Ucelli" is a baroque pastiche in suite form. Respighi took melodies from several baroque composers and re-interpreted them as a musical aviary depicting, in order, a dove, a hen, a nightingale, and a cuckoo.
This piece is a high-request item at any classical-music radio station-even from people who hate modern music - and James Glazebrook and his players did a respectable job with it. Respighi was a master of orchestral color, and despite the famously dead acoustics of Burruss Hall, the palette was brilliant.
Especially pleasing were Glazebrook's first-desk wind players, including clarinetist Jeff Midkiff and veteran oboist Janice Norvell, who had abundant opportunity to show off her lovely tone.
The post-interval half of the concert was devoted to Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor, which featured Tech faculty member Mary Louse Hallauer. Hallauer plays mostly chamber music and recital repertoire, and it was good to hear her tackle a concerto.
Especially the Grieg, which, according to Bernard Shaw, is a piece that requires more muscle and endurance than female pianists possess.
Hallauer would probably have made him change his mind. She pounded out the familiar opening chords with power to spare and her performance didn't slacken for the rest of the evening.
Especially fine was the romanza-style second movement, which was an emotional experience in this musician's hands. This is one piece that this reviewer, frankly, has heard enough to last him into the next century, but I found myself enjoying Hallauer's intelligence and her sensitive dynamic control.
There were a few missed notes in the third movement, but perfect performances exist only on compact disc, and Hallauer earned the whistles and bravos that followed her performance.
by CNB