ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, January 28, 1997              TAG: 9701280135
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 3    EDITION: METRO 
                                             TYPE: SYMPHONY REVIEW

CLARINETIST'S SKILL SHINES AT CONCERT

There weren't too many empty seats at the Roanoke Civic Center Monday night for the Roanoke Symphony's first concert of the year, which had Schubert, Prokofiev, and not just one but two concertos with clarinet superstar Richard Stoltzman.

Maestro David Wiley opened with the two movements of Franz Schubert's great "Unfinished" Symphony.

The RSO did a beautiful job with this lush and gorgeous work, highlighted by fine ensemble work from the strings and rich tones from the woodwinds that glowed like rubbed brass. Though the tempos of the two movements were rather too similar - the first movement Allegro moderato was on the stately side - it was a happy and beautifully detailed performance.

Stoltzman took an exhilarating ride through RSO Composer-in-Residence Margaret Brouwer's Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra. Having just recorded the work with Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony, Stoltzman had it literally at his fingertips. A gauzy, gossamer first movement was the prelude to a rhythmically vigorous second, with difficult high-register passages and some good-humored screeches on the mouthpiece alone in the cadenza.

Stoltzman's performance of the Carl Nielsen Clarinet Concerto was a strong reading of disturbingly powerful music and ranks as one of the high points of the RSO's season thus far.

It seemed Maestro Wiley launched into Sergei Prokofiev's "Classical" Symphony at a rather sedate tempo, though the performance gained energy on the way. Wiley played the humor in this witty and sardonic work for all it was worth. His occasionally funny body language on the podium not only communicated his ideas to his players but also got some laughs from the audience.

After a rousing finale to the Prokofiev, Wiley treated the crowd to an excerpt from the "Ode to Joy" section of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Earlier, he announced that, thanks to a grant from benefactor Eldon Grover, the Roanoke Symphony and Roanoke Valley Choral Society will make a CD recording this spring of Beethoven's Ninth. It will be the first compact disc recording issued by the RSO.

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

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