THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 14, 1995 TAG: 9501140241
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Music Review
SOURCE: By MARK MOBLEY, MUSIC CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
Friday's Virginia Symphony program came as close to a pops concert as a classical concert should. But it was entertaining for worthwhile reasons.
Trumpeter Doc Severinsen appeared with a new concerto by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. Music director JoAnn Falletta flanked the piece with an American symphony and Rimsky-Korsakov's ever-popular ``Scheherazade,'' two heaps of sugar that helped Zwilich's mild dissonances go down.
Star egos being what they are, and concertos being the star vehicles that they are, it's not often a concerto is the most challenging piece on a concert. And a former TV bandleader isn't a person you'd expect to insist on high-brow seriousness.
But Severinsen, who commissioned this work with a consortium of orchestras including the Virginia Symphony, has good taste and a sense of purpose about what he does. In this concert, the only reminders of his jocular boob-tube stardom were a colorful scarf and kisses blown to the warmly appreciative audience.
Zwilich titled her terse, 15-minute work ``American Concerto'' as a tribute to the virility she hears in American brass-playing, as exemplified by Severinsen. She makes telling use of Severinsen's dramatic sound - his nailed high notes and soulful, growly low notes. The accompaniment is rich with romantic passages and touches of jazz. Her most striking passage is a beautiful, bleak chorale for strings.
Though she creates the necessary air of mystery around the soloist, the piece is a bit diffuse in cadenza sections, as the soloist trades licks with percussionists. And contrary to what the program book said, this was not a world premiere. That occasion was in San Diego in September.
The program opened with the Symphony No. 1 of Jerome Moross, a slightly younger colleague of Copland. Like Copland, he wrote film scores. And like Copland, he wrote music that sounds like Copland, with folk themes and bouncy rhythms and down-home clarity and sincerity. Falletta made a fine recording of this piece two seasons ago. Live, the piece was a breezy pleasure.
``Scheherazade'' was what it is, a lush exercise in orchestration with sweeping, seductive themes. The orchestra's sense of ensemble isn't quite back from the holiday break yet. But a few soloists, namely the concertmaster and principal bassoon, had inspired moments. Principal horn and principal cello had fewer.
Before ``Scheherazade,'' the orchestra paid tribute to the memory of Luke Douglas Sellers, a former assistant conductor, who died in October. With the podium empty, they played ``Nimrod'' from Elgar's ``Enigma'' Variations. It was a fitting choice, not only for its solemnity but also because Elgar's Serenade for Strings afforded Sellers one of his most impressive local performances. MEMO: Most of the last paragraph was not printed in the Final edition.
MUSIC REVIEW
The Virginia Symphony with trumpeter Doc Severinsen and music director
JoAnn Falletta Friday at Chrysler Hall, Norfolk. The program will be
repeated at 8 p.m. today at Chrysler Hall. Tickets: $15 to $34.
623-2310. To order, call 671-8100.
Conductor and pianist Walter Noona will lead the orchestra at 7 p.m.
Sunday at the Virginia Beach Pavilion. Tickets: $15 to $25. To order,
call 671-8100. by CNB