Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 5, 1993 TAG: 9305050031
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SETH WILLIAMSON
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The final movement of this mid-century American classic - with its extended exposition of Copland's famous "Fanfare for the Common Man" and its interpolated middle dance section - earned a standing ovation and enthusiastic applause.
The noble music evoked some especially fine solo work from the RSO players, especially from the brass section. Hornist Wally Easter, trombonist Dayl Burnett and trumpeter Jim Kluesner have rarely been heard to better effect.
This season being "The Year of Beethoven," Bond began with the Leonore Overture No. 1, meaning that concertgoers have now heard all four of the overtures Beethoven wrote for his one and only opera "Fidelio."
Bond has always been a good Beethoven conductor, and this was a fine Leonore, full of sparkle and life.
Two recent works filled out the first half of the program. "Shifting Circles" was by Washington and Lee University composer-in-residence Margaret Brouwer. Inspired by Brouwer's reading of the life of Irish female warlord and pirate Grace O'Malley, the piece was a complex one-movement work featuring dense layers of sound and a huge percussion section.
It began with an exuberant section with the orchestra in full cry. A lovely lyrical section had muted trumpet calls over muttering strings, gradually crescendoing to an abrupt finish.
Although "Shifting Circles" had impressive moments, it was difficult, at least with a single hearing, to perceive that the individual sections made a satisfying whole.
In this respect it was similar to Joseph Schwantner's "From Afar...," which featured soloist Sharon Isbin. Over the past five years Isbin has become one of the best-known guitarists in the world, with four well received compact discs on the Virgin Classics label.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, who along with Brouwer was in the audience, directed that the soloist be miked in order to compete dynamically with the orchestra.
"From Afar..." was a one-movement fantasia in which the guitar, in Isbin's words, functions as a "control center" for the rest of the orchestra. The piece was full of impressive effects: phrases begun on the guitar would be spun off into the percussion section, the strings, even the brass. The orchestra would echo the soloist and sometimes reproduce "guitar effects" with an uncanny similitude.
Isbin played authoritatively, with a long central cadenza that featured lovely harmonics effects.
However, "From Afar..." struck me as too episodic to make a strong final impression. One music educator in the audience complained that it "jumped from thirty bars here to thirty bars there." An RSO string player called the work "a bleep-blop piece."
Both the Brouwer and the Schwantner lacked the kind of extended melodic argument that was present to strong effect in the Copland masterpiece. Which was probably why they earned polite clapping versus the Copland's spirited applause.
The Copland Third was not the RSO at its very best, but it was well-crafted music played with understanding and affection. The central section of the third movement was not as rhythmically lively as it should have been.
But that's a quibble compared to the final effect this performance produced. There was so much beautiful solo work that there's not room enough to mention it all. The first-movement trombone-and-flute duet with Dayl Burnett and Carol Noe was beautiful. So were the excellent brass fanfares at the beginning of the second movement from hornist Wally Easter and trumpeter Jim Kluesner.
Bond milked the final movement's drama for all it was worth, revelling in Copland's grand gestures. It would have been hard to conceive of a more dramatic way to ring down the curtain on another symphony season than with the showstopping fourth movement.
by CNB