Battle for Baton Sparks Interest

Dark-horse Candidate For Conductor Draws Cheers
by Diane Peterson 

The Press Democrat, December 12, 2005

SANTA ROSAöAs the Santa Rosa Symphony music director search enters its final lap, the race has started to gain momentum and a spark of excitement.

At Saturday night's concert at the Burbank Center for the Arts, Paul Polivnick took over the podium as the fifth of seven candidates, inspiring a sumptuous sound from the orchestra that was clean yet lyrical, full of dramatic zest and contrast.

Polivnick sculpted the polished performance with animated gestures and a subtle sense of authority, from the somber opening of Mozart's Overture to "Don Giovanni" to the despairing finale of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6, "Pathetique."

The conductor also lent sensitive support during Prokofiev's acrobatic Violin Concerto No. 1 before intermission. Both the Prokofiev, played by Sonoma County's David McCarroll, and the Tchaikovsky earned standing ovations.

It all sounded so good that you almost forgot the conductor was there - probably one of the reasons both musicians and audience members are calling him the best candidate yet.

A dark horse candidate who was on the short list but originally did not make the final list of music director candidates, Polivnick stepped in a week before the concert to replace the ailing Michael Guttler of Germany.

The 58-year-old Polivnick, who is tall and lithe with a boyish demeanor, played violin and trumpet as a child in New Jersey and New York, then studied at Juilliard and played viola with the LA Chamber Orchestra.

He started his conducting career in 1969, replacing Michael Tilson Thomas as conductor of the Debut Orchestra of the Young Musicians Foundation in Los Angeles.

He served as music director of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra from 1985 to 1993 and the Oberlin Conservatory Orchestras from 1979 to 2002, among other posts.

Currently, he serves as music director of the New Hampshire Music Festival, a two-month summer festival, and guest conducts around the world.

For the past three years, he has lived in Clearwater, Fla., with his wife, who was a ballerina.

In an interview last week, Polivnick said as a conductor, he tries to create a positive atmosphere so that each player wants to give freely, of his or her own will.

"I try to gain respect of the group so each individual is respected," he said.

That approach seemed to pay off Saturday night. The symphony played elegantly under Polivnick in both the Mozart and the Prokofiev. But it was McCarroll who gave the steely concerto its strength and its vitality.

The 19-year-old violinist brought a keenly focused intensity to the work, known as the fiddler's Fourth of July for its virtuosic fireworks, from pizzicato and double-stops to octaves and trills.

Although the Prokofiev is an attractive work, it's not a deeply moving experience. For that reason, it provided a nice foil for the concert finale, Tchaikovsky's searing Concerto No. 6.

At the end of the symphony's heart-wrenching finale - a slow descent downward that expresses man's defeat and defiance in the face of fate - the audience sat in silence, stunned by the power of the performance.

Then one man stood up in the second row and said it all: "Bravo."

The Santa Rosa Symphony will repeat the Saturday program at 8 tonight at the Burbank Center for the Arts, 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa. Tickets: $16-$59. Phone: 546-8742.