
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 11, 1990                   TAG: 9006110007
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SETH WILLIAMSON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RSO POPS HAD FAMILIAR RING

One of the grand old men of symphonic pops music in America kicked off the Roanoke Symphony's summer pops season Saturday evening at the Salem Civic Center. Harry Ellis Dickson, associate conductor laureate of the Boston Pops, was guest conductor in a tribute to his old boss Arthur Fiedler.

Dickson, who is also known as an author and raconteur (and who is the father of Kitty Dukakis), conducted the RSO in many of the arrangements Fiedler made famous. It was an enjoyable concert, and the familiar Boston Pops settings get much of the credit. Penned by Dick Hayman, Leroy Anderson and others, the arrangements, Dickson said, may be used only by himself and by current Pops music director John Williams.

It was a John Williams composition that opened Saturday's concert. Dickson conducted the RSO in Williams' stirringly martial "Olympic Fanfare," which came off pretty well except for a few blats from some brass players.

Next was von Suppe's "Poet and Peasant" Overture, which featured a long and lovely cello solo from Mary Hege Crane. After this came a Boston Pops arrangement of Debussy's "Clair de lune," which was notable in that it is now known to be the work of American composer Walter Piston. Piston requested that the arrangement be unattributed until after after his death, said Dickson.

Filling out the rest of the first half was a medley of Richard Rodgers waltzes and something called "The Irish Suite," a Leroy Anderson arrangement of traditional Irish tunes that for years has been a Boston Pops standby. The Irish medley was highlighted by a violin solo from concertmaster James Glazebrook in "The Last Rose of Summer" that would have brought tears in any Irish bar in the land.

After a fairly demanding first half, the trumpet section faced a challenge to their collective chops in the first three pieces after the interval. First was a Dick Hayman arrangement of "The Brave Bulls," which the trumpeters delivered in prime Rafael Mendez mariachi style, and which included a brilliant bravura cadenza.

This was followed by that one-time staple of middle-of-the-road radio formats, Leroy Anderson's "Trumpeter's Lullaby," which according to Dickson was written especially for the Boston Pops' first trumpeter. During Fiedler's reign this would have been either Roger Voisin or Armando Ghitalla, and RSO trumpeter Mark Camphouse's fat tone was clearly closer to Ghitalla's own style.

Dickson then proceeded to bring down the house with a Dick Hayman arrangement of the Anderson Sisters' "Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy," which earned sustained applause and cheers. (It was also a taste of things to come in this summer's final pops concert, which will be devoted to swing music)

Dickson and the RSO also performed "Fiddle-Faddle" and "The Syncopated Clock" by Leroy Anderson, two Glenn Miller standards and the "South Rampart Street Parade." These Boston Pops arrangements were replete with witty touches, such as a quotation from Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" in the midst of Glenn Miller's signature tune "Moonlight Serenade," and a nod to John Philip Sousa when the famous piccolo part from "Stars and Stripes Forever" turned up in the middle of "South Rampart Street Parade."

After much applause from the enthusiastic Civic Center crowd, Dickson rewarded the audience with three encores, which included a new arrangement of "Music of the Night" from Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom of the Opera," Kurt Weill's "Mack the Knife" and Fiedler's own signature arrangement of "The Stars and Stripes Forever."

The next RSO pops concert will feature "Sesame Street" regular Bob McGrath on July 28.

by CNB