ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, February 13, 1996             TAG: 9602130142
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 3    EDITION: METRO 
                                             TYPE: CONCERT REVIEW
SOURCE: SETH WILLIAMSON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES 

VALENTINE CONCERT HAS MUCH TO LOVE

They called it "A Touch of Romance," and sure enough, it was love at first sight for a lot of concert-goers Monday night.

Ming-Feng Hsin conducted the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra's Valentine concert as the fourth of five finalists for the job of music director and conductor. And at least a few satisfied customers in the Roanoke Civic Center sounded as if they were ready for maestro Hsin to sign on the dotted line before he left the hall.

To start with, the program was terrific. The Taiwanese native and conductor of Long Island's South Shore Orchestra chose three great crowd-pleasers by Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Edward Elgar in addition to a new piece by RSO Composer-in-Residence Margaret Brouwer that was already on the schedule. Except for the Brouwer, he conducted the entire concert without a score.

And even though it's not part of the job, Hsin seemed to create a lot of good will by soloing himself on his violin in Beethoven's "Romance No.2 for Violin and Orchestra." By the time he was finished with that one, it was easy to believe that the maestro's other day job is as a first violin in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Hsin is a beautifully accomplished violinist.

The first few notes in the opening woodwind chorale in Peter Illich Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet" overture were tentative and uncertain. But once the RSO was eight or 10 bars into this Romantic masterpiece, all hesitation and uncertainty were left behind. There was a fine mastery of the ebb and flow of this piece's rich textures. And even amid the most impassioned, panting love melodies, Hsin kept the very traditional form of the piece - a sonata allegro - firmly in sight. The conductor was summoned back to the stage a second time during enthusiastic applause.

Brouwer's "Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra" recently got a major-label recording from clarinet superstar Richard Stoltzman and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. Daniel Silver, a Baltimore-based clarinetist, soloed in Monday night's performance. The clarinet had some lovely moments in the first movement as it wandered through a hazy wash of delicate string textures. Quite different was the jagged second movement with difficult rhythmic patterns and swooping glissandi. This section featured a brief duel between a siren and Silver playing on his instrument's mouthpiece. The work came to a quick and emphatic ending.

Hsin opened the second half of the concert by conducting the RSO as he soloed in Beethoven's "Romance No.2 in F Major for Violin and Orchestra," Op.50. If Hsin had been hired simply as a player, he would have to rank as one of the finest soloists to play with this symphony. His tone was gorgeous. Hsin is a gifted violinist, with a right hand of extraordinary subtlety and nuance, and a left hand that hit every note at absolutely dead center. Hsin was again called back to the stage after this performance, and there were several shouts of bravo.

Elgar's "Enigma Variations" was a tremendously satisfying conclusion to this concert. In fact, there were extended passages in this moving masterwork in which the RSO sounded as good as it's ever played. It was a lucid performance with moments of simply stunning sonority, and throughout it was a reading marked by cleanness of tone, fine balance and sustained pacing.

Hsin elicited meticulous detail in the W.N. and R.P.A. variations with their light wind and string passages. When he asked for a wall of sound in the powerful Troyte variation, he got it. And as for the core of this work - the hauntingly noble Nimrod variation - the RSO attained a sustained nobility of utterance that nearly brought tears to this reviewer's eyes. The conductor did not succumb to the temptation to sentimentalize the grandeur that is inherent in this great music - he simply let Elgar be Elgar, and the final effect was truly memorable.

The audience was out of its seats immediately and gave maestro Hsin a standing ovation and many shouts of bravo, returning him to the stage several times for further recognition.

Seth Williamson produces feature news stories and a weekday classical music program on public radio station WVTF (89.1 FM) in Roanoke.

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