THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 9, 1994 TAG: 9409090608
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By MARK MOBLEY, MUSIC CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
The Virginia Symphony's first concert began with Haydn.
Its 75th season will start with Havens.
The orchestra is premiering ``Tribute to a Generation'' by Virginia Beach film composer Brent Havens tonight at Chrysler Hall. Music director JoAnn Falletta will conduct the short work before launching into Wagner and Beethoven.
Havens' new fanfare is only a few minutes long, but it is a compressed history of the ensemble that commissioned it.
``I wanted to show a sense of the orchestra moving and moving forward because it is a tribute to the orchestra,'' Havens said. ``What I wanted to portray here is that the symphony started out very quickly. It builds to a frenzy and the orchestra just rolls along.''
The music reaches a climax and cuts off abruptly. Brass chords ``kind of hit major and go weird again,'' depicting the orchestra's persistent money and administrative troubles.
``Last year they had all the difficulties with finance and not having an executive director,'' Havens said. ``They weren't quite sure whether the orchestra was going to continue or drop off.''
Then the chords stop dead. ``There's nothing. Just a big silence, and she (Falletta)drops the baton and we're right back into the orchestra chugging along.''
Havens' oddest touch is the last phrase, a rising line that winds up in left field. ``I end on a really strange note. I wanted a sense of uncertainty, of `Where do we go from here?' Something that just leaves you hanging.'' The audience won't know the piece is over ``until JoAnn drops her arms and that's the end.''
Havens has improved his relationship with orchestras since his rocky start as an eighth-grade violin student. ``I hated the instrument. I hated the orchestra. I hated classical music.''
His true musical potential was first recognized in high school, after he had switched to electric bass. He would show up in jazz band rehearsal with arrangements he'd taken by ear from the records of jazz-rock trumpeter Maynard Ferguson.
After studying at Boston's Berklee College of Music, Havens moved to Hampton Roads and briefly played keyboards in a dinner-club duo. While working at a local TV station dubbing tapes, he overheard co-workers talking about an arrangement they needed. Work for the station led to a freelance career and writing such jingles as the Twin ``B'' Auto Parts song with the lyrics ``Much, much more!''
Havens's first film score was for the Emmy-winning CBS Schoolbreak Special ``Never Say Goodbye.'' His first feature film score was ``The Pistol,'' a 1991 biography of basketball star Pete Maravich.
Havens, 38, received the fanfare commission after preparing a new, scaled-down edition of Tchaikovsky's ``Nutcracker'' last year. His version, completed at no charge to the orchestra, saved rental fees and by all accounts sounded better than the usual reduction.
His recent projects include theme music for an African news operation and the score to a forthcoming CBN International animated film, ``Micah's Christmas,'' which features the voice of WKOC deejay Les Wooten as Herod. Havens produced the new CD ``It Ain't One Way'' by local duo The Mann Sisters.
Havens is married to Symphony violinist Allegra Havens. At home, his music occasionally sneaks up on him. ``I did a whole library of cuts for a company in Dallas. I will turn on CNN or ESPN and say, `I recognize that! I did that!' '' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by LAWRENCE JACKSON/
JoAnn Falletta will conduct music by Virginia Beach composer Brent
Havens, right, along with Wagner and Beethoven when the Virginia
Symphony opens its 75th season tonight .
THE PERFORMANCES
The Virginia Symphony performs today and Saturday at 8 p.m. at
Chrysler Hall, Norfolk. The program includes Brent Havens' ``Tribute
to a Generation,'' music from Wagner's ``Tannhaeuser'' and
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Tickets are $15-$34, with 50 percent off
for students.
The program will be repeated at 3 p.m. Sunday at Williamsburg
United Methodist Church, Williamsburg. Tickets are $15. To learn
more, call 623-2310.
by CNB