THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 8, 1995 TAG: 9501070062
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: MARK MOBLEY
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
DURING THE holidays we experience the joy of repetition. Carols are sung over and over. George Bailey makes his millionth leap off the bridge. The nutcracker snaps back to life. The heavens retell good tidings to Zion.
So perhaps it's appropriate that the Virginia Symphony is greeting the promise of a new year by offering old and new together.
The signal event of the week in music is the local premiere of a 4-month-old trumpet concerto by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, winner of the 1983 Pulitzer Prize. The soloist is former ``Tonight Show'' bandleader Doc Severinsen, with music director JoAnn Falletta conducting.
But what some fans are waiting for is on the second half. Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov's 1888 ``Scheherazade'' is as beloved as anything in the repertoire. Listeners thrill to its grand tunes, plush textures and exotic touches. It has been recorded again and again, though its composer is not a household name.
``Scheherazade'' isn't a piece I would cross the street to hear, having burned out on it as a teenager. But I surveyed four recent ``Scheherazade'' recordings and found much to like in the playing. I also found my respect for the work renewed somewhat.
It is a symphonic suite of episodes based loosely on the collection of Eastern tales called ``The Thousand and One Nights.'' A sultan believed women were always faithless, so he had each of his wives executed after a single night. But one of them, Scheherazade, managed to stay alive by spinning out fantastic tales and thus captivating her husband.
Rimsky wrote an ominous tune for the sultan and a sweet violin melody for Scheherazade. If that seems simplistic, well, it is. But what he did with those melodies keeps audiences, like the sultan, coming back for more.
On an orchestra not much larger than that of a staid Brahms symphony, Rimsky, one of the finest orchestrators in music history, painted a series of flashy scenes. The sea crests. Lovers pitch woo. Scheherazade begins yet another tale. And while the piece borders on being a violin concerto, it also features prominent solos for most of the principals in the orchestra.
Among the most acclaimed recent recordings is by Yuri Temirkanov and the New York Philharmonic (RCA Victor). It is a slow ``Scheherazade,'' self-consciously pretty in the love music and ponderously powerful in the sultan's passages. The orchestra - especially the brass - sounds full and organ-like. But while Temirkanov coaxes some intense moments, the performance doesn't add up. And the concertmaster has a thin, bright tone.
Riccardo Chailly takes a similarly patient approach with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra (London). But Chailly adds interpretative insight, making the piece sound more coherent, better worked-out. The concertmaster plays sweetly and the solo bassoonist is heroic. This is an impressive performance by a great orchestra in a great hall.
The Temirkanov/Philharmonic recording also includes Rimsky's subsequent ``Russian Easter'' Overture. Chailly/Amsterdam features the early, little-heard Scherzo Fantastique of one of Rimsky's pupils, Stravinsky. But in this context, ``Russian Easter'' is more of the same and the Scherzo isn't very interesting, except as a novelty.
A much better pairing and a first-rate interpretation are found on a recording by Myung-Whun Chung and the Bastille Opera Orchestra of Paris (Deutsche Grammophon). The companion work is Stravinsky's ``Firebird Suite.'' Chung is much faster than Temirkanov or Chailly but the playing is clean and impassioned. Concertmaster Frederic Laroque is exemplary.
Seiji Ozawa and the Vienna Philharmonic were recorded live in ``Scheherazade'' and the ``Russian Easter Overture'' (Philips). The performances are fast, inconsequential and - amazingly enough for this orchestra - unattractive. DATEBOOK
Today at 3 p.m., pianist Stefan Dulcie will play a benefit recital for Operation Amen, the interfaith AIDS commission of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia. Dulcie, who lives in Northampton County, is a graduate of the Juilliard School and the University of Nevada, Reno. He has appeared as soloist with the London Classical Players.
His performance is at the Unitarian Church of Norfolk, 739 Yarmouth St. (adjacent to the Chrysler Museum Theater). The program includes works of Liszt (the ``Mephisto Waltz'' No. 1), Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Clementi and Beethoven (Sonata, Op. 109). Tickets are $15. For more information call 423-8287. MEMO: To hear Rimsky-Korsakov's music, call Infoline at 640-5555 and punch
category 6275. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
by CNB