THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 26, 1997 TAG: 9701260058
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Music Review
SOURCE: BY LEE TEPLY, SPECIAL TO THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 57 lines
The Virginia Symphony seemed right at home Friday evening in some of its favorite repertoire: the German/Eastern European music of the late 19th century.
Also back at home was music director JoAnn Falletta. Although the orchestra played quite well in her absence two weeks ago, this performance was richer in musical nuance and stronger in overall impact.
The program opener, Richard Strauss' ``Don Juan,'' was not the typical light fare used to warm up both the orchestra and the audience. This is a substantial work that makes significant demands on the performers' technical and interpretive abilities.
Falletta and the symphony have in the past few seasons played other tone poems by this composer, each time developing their technique to a higher level and broadening their understanding of the expressive, flexible shape of the music.
They are now beyond the point of just getting through all the difficulties and are free to place their own personal stamp on the music. This performance was filled with details of timing and orchestral coloring that made the large work sound both more personal and more powerful.
The secure violin section was led by concertmaster Vahn Armstrong, who in solo passages played with warm tone.
A series of wind solos began with a particularly tender and well-shaped melody by principal oboist Sherie Lake Aguirre.
The dramatic climax was capped by the full sound of the horn section.
Much of the same fine playing was heard in Dvorak's Eighth Symphony, which closed the program. The Bohemian folk tunes that appear through the work were played with enough rustic charm to suggest the happy rural life that the composer so loved.
Effective transitions were made between the tempos of the many sections, tying together the pieces of the large work into a well-paced package.
Again, there were several fine solos. The lower strings stood out in melodic lines that allowed their tone to blossom.
The evening's featured soloist was violinist Miranda Cuckson. Playing the well-known Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, she demonstrated an impressive technique. Her sweet tone was perhaps a bit thin for the large hall, but it was always clear.
Given such experience with this concerto (Cuckson first played it when she was 11 in New York's Avery Fisher Hall), the number of miscalculations in her intonation was surprising.
She was also unable, at the start of the third movement, to control her tempo to stay with the steadiness of the orchestra.
And, finally, it should be noted that the orchestra played with considerably more conviction and presence than it had two weeks ago when it accompanied a soloist in a Chopin piano concerto. ILLUSTRATION: SYMPHONY REVIEW
Virginia Symphony, with violinist Miranda Cuckson, at Chrysler
Hall on Friday.