Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 29, 1994 TAG: 9404290117
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By SETH WILLIAMSON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The mainly student and community orchestra will be tackling its hardest work ever - and under the baton of a guest conductor, no less.
On the program for Saturday night's Burruss Hall auditorium concert at 8 pm is the monumental Symphony No. 10 of Dmitri Shostakovich. In addition to this difficult piece, the ensemble will also perform the `Dances of Galanta` of Zoltan Kodaly and - if the preparation for the Shostakovich allows it - `Traces of Becoming` by Canadian composer Thomas Dusakto.
"The Shostakovich is the toughest piece that this orchestra has ever tackled," said NRVSO conductor James Glazebrook. "We've done Beethoven symphonies, parts of Mahler, plus Sibelius and Dvorak-but this is quite deliberately ratcheting up the challenge for this orchestra.
"I believe that to take your orchestra to higher levels you have to take risks and you have to stretch. I believe that we're gonna rise to the occasion. But the bulk of the orchestra is students and they need to know what this music is like and need to have experienced the difficulties and the excitement of tackling something like this."
Are the symphony's younger players ready for the Shostakovich Tenth?
"If I thought we were gonna go into the toilet I wouldn't do it, but I think it's important for our development," said Glazebrook.
Leading the NRVSO through this program is the first guest conductor the symphony has had in years. Jerome Summers is a 50-year-old Canadian clarinet virtuoso and conductor who teaches at the University of Western Ontario.
Summers frequently conducts national broadcasts of Canadian orchestras on the CBC radio network, and his Blacksburg guest shot is part of a swap arranged by John Husser of Virginia Tech's music department. In return for Saturday night's appearance by Summers, James Glazebrook will travel to Canada and conduct Summers' own student orchestra in London, Ontario.
The Symphony No. 10 in E minor, Op. 93 of Dmitri Shostakovich, dating from 1953, is by most accounts the Soviet composer's symphonic masterpiece. By turns tragic, frightening and bitterly humorous, the work can be cathartic for audiences and draining for musicians.
"Shostakovich was sort of a repressed romantic, and there's a tremendous fiery energy in his music that is balanced by a brooding, internalizing, moody approach to writing," said Summers.
"This piece is a showcase for orchestra, like a concerto for orchestra in that every section has dazzling soli opportunities. The sardonic humor, the satire, is very evident." The Soviet composer "was thumbing his nose at the oppressive regime he lived under in this piece," said the conductor.
Summers said that the entire symphony is built on a motif based on letters representing the composer's name: D (for Dmitri), and SCH for Shostakovich. Transliterating the S as `es` yields E-flat, said the conductor, and the H represents B-natural in German notation.
Also on Saturday night's program are the folk-based `Dances of Galanta` by Hungarian composer Zoltan Kodaly.
"This piece is also like a concerto for orchestra because each section has major solo opportunities. The cello, the horn, the oboe, and the clarinet has a big cadenza-it's a major clarinet work," said Summers.
If the Shostakovich leaves enough rehearsal time left over to prepare it, Summers will conduct `Traces of Becoming` by fellow Canadian Thomas Dusakto.
"It's an impressionistic kind of work with some aleatoric sections, freely notated in some sections. It's a very attractive color piece, and I've had considerable success programming it with both professional and student orchestras," said Summers.
James Glazebrook says he is pleased with Jerome Summers as a guest conductor because he not only has experience with professional orchestras but is capable of dealing with student players as well.
Summers says that, when conducting younger players, he is careful to insist that they don't turn the tables on him.
"If I'm not very careful a student orchestra will try to train ME. They'll allow me to do all the work for them, all the rhythms and subdividing and doing every entrance, but I insist that they do all that.
"On the up side, I find that going back to students the energy level is usually higher and the sense of discovery is heightened because it's usually their first time with a given piece, even the standards. That's a nice perk and it can give you more exciting performances than otherwise," said the conductor.
Summers said that last week's first rehearsals with the New River Valley Symphony Orchestra were "just terrific."
"They've done good preparation and I think it's gonna be just fine, it's solid."
by CNB