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A Weak Link
by Eric Valliere
The Press
Democrat,
May 8, 2004
Weâre
lucky in the Bay Area to
have an agreeable
assortment of regional
orchestras (a species
dubbed the ãFreeway
Philharmonicä by the
many freelance musicians
that belong to most of
them), each with its own
season, music director,
and artistic point of
view. Under conductor
Jeffrey Kahane, the
Santa Rosa Symphony is
perhaps the most
adventurous, with a
season featuring over a
dozen 20th-century works
and even several
premieres. For their
final concert of 2003-04
on Saturday, the
ensemble balanced two
certain crowd-pleasers
with a very ambitious
mounting of Brittenâs
Spring Symphony.
Itâs
not often we get to hear
the Spring Symphony. In
1947 it was the latest
in a long and proud
tradition of works
celebrating the seasons
in music. Then as now
ö as Mr. Kahane
pointed out in his
comments preceding the
performance ö it
provided a message of
hope (spring) after the
darkness of a great
global conflict
(winter). [We might
expect to hear more
performances in the
coming years, as
musicians respond to the
proliferation of
international crises.]
With marvelously
inventive settings of
poetry by Auden,
Barnefield, Peele,
Blake, and Beaumont
& Fletcher, Britten
revels in all of
springâs delights:
schoolboys at play,
flowers in bloom, the
return of the sun,
innocence, love.
Several
of the songs are set for
soloists. Elissa
Johnston had a
deliciously clear
soprano, agile and
winning despite some
rhythmic difficulties.
Tenor Alan Bennett made
an excellent impression,
particularly toward the
end of ãWhen Will My
May Comeä when his
sweet upper register
silenced the fussy
audience. Mezzo-Soprano
Barbara Rearick had an
imposing stage presence
and a voluptuous sound;
her ãWelcome Maids of
Honorä was one of the
eveningâs highlights.
Disparate
Levels
Other
songs call for various
choral groupings
including adults and
children. Brittenâs
writing for choir is a
marvel and a delight, an
effortless mix of humor
and sublime pathos. Rich
a cappella passages
alternate with
declamatory unison bits.
Sadly, the adult choirs
here were simply not up
to the task. Fifty or so
singers from the Sonoma
County Bach Choir were
joined by about eighty
students from Santa Rosa
High School. Despite
this staggering number
of voices (plus the 30
children), the sound was
timid and untrained. Not
that they hadnât
prepared ö they
clearly knew their
parts. But their voices
could not balance the
polish and depth of the
orchestraâs
professional players.
Brahmsâ
rarely performed jewel,
NŠnie (Op. 82), was
equally disappointing.
An excellent programming
choice ö the work
contemplates the passing
of life through
Friedrich Schillerâs
text, beginning with the
line ãEven beauty must
die.ä This is an
elegant and mature work,
played with calm
reflection by the
orchestra (although the
brass had not warmed up
sufficiently to maintain
proper tuning). But once
more, the contrast
between the
orchestraâs
professionalism and the
volunteer choirâs
inexperience was just
too great.
Kahane
(and SFS Choral Director
Robert Worth) deserve
credit for their
ambitious decision to
program these works. Mr.
Worth is a seasoned
conductor who prepared
his choirs well under
the circumstances. But
those circumstances
compel further
reflection: why do
ensembles persist in
their desire to mount
challenging works for
chorus and orchestra
with untrained, unpaid
singers? With
instrumentalists
(reportedly some of the
best-paid in the Freeway
Phil circuit) coming
from as far away as the
South Bay, why is it
necessary to rely on a
ãcommunityä choir
when there are hundreds
of trained professionals
well within the radius
of Santa Rosa? Despite
clear hard work and good
intentions, the
available voices were
simply not equipped to
do the job required of
them.
The
first movement of the
Johann Nepomuk
Hummellâs 1803 Trumpet
Concerto in E-flat Major
has all the rhythmic
excitement of an ice
cube, and soloist Guy
Few displayed an
appropriately suave
coolness, while
sacrificing none of his
abundant charm. The
second movement allowed
his expressive gifts to
come through a bit more,
with long lines and
liquid trills. The
finale showed Mr. Few
and the orchestra ö
particularly the crystal
clear articulations of
the strings ö at their
finest, and earned an
extended standing
ovation.
(Eric
Valliere completed his
doctorate in composition
from New England
Conservatory in Boston,
where he was also on the
Musicology faculty.
Currently, Eric serves
as Executive Director
for Volti (www.voltisf.org)
and the Noe Valley
Chamber Music Series (www.nvcm.org),
and as Managing Director
of the BluePrint
Contemporary Music
Project (at the SF
Conservatory). His
critical writings have
also appeared on
www.classicstoday.com
and he is a frequent
contributor to
www.andante.com.)
©2004 Eric Valliere,
all rights reserved
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