Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 13, 1994 TAG: 9409130044
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-6 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By SETH WILLIAMSON Special to the Roanoke Times & World-News
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
It was everybody who's ever been told, in that eat-your-spinach tone of voice, that they ought to be listening to Elliot Carter and Schoenberg - but who instead got out the headphones and furtively put the Pachelbel "Canon" and the Ravel "Bolero" on the CD player.
In fact, the picnic concert in the Squires Commonwealth Ballroom on the Virginia Tech campus had just about every classical music super-warhorse except the Ravel and the Pachelbel. Sponsored by the New River Valley Friends of the Roanoke Symphony, the First National Bank and Tetra, this concert was wall-to-wall greatest hits, a symphonic "Solid Gold Saturday Night," and the near-capacity crowd ate it up. As one RSO section leader said on the way out, "This stuff sure draws better than doing Hindemith in Wise County."
It was a small edition of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, with only 27 players. Concertmaster James Glazebrook conducted in place of Victoria Bond, who begins her valedictory season with the symphony in October.
The program began with Aram Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance" from the "Gayne" ballet - described jokingly by Glazebrook as "slightly obnoxious" - and proceeded through the overture to Rossini's opera "The Barber of Seville," the "Carmen" Suite No. 1 of Georges Bizet, music from "Peer Gynt" by Edvard Grieg, the "Bacchanale" from Camille Saint-Saens' "Samson and Delilah" and many others.
It was in general a musical, workmanlike performance from the RSO, which by any standard is a good regional orchestra. The wind players in particular gave a strong account of themselves. The RSO now plays at a good level, with occasional peaks of excellence, though the ensemble seems to have reached a developmental plateau past which it's not likely to progress without a major cash infusion.
Rossini's "Barber of Seville" overture was spirited though sloppy in spots. Prior to a beautiful version of the "Carmen" suite, Glazebrook had the audience in stitches by recalling ersatz lyrics that were popular in the 50s: "Toreador-a, don't spit on the floor-a / Use the cuspidor-a / That's what it's for- a!" Next were the "Morning" and "Hall of the Mountain King" sections from Grieg's "Peer Gynt."
The showstopper of the night was trumpeter Allen Bachelder's solo in Rafael Mendez's florid, Moorish-flavored "La Virgen de la Macarena." Ironically, Bachelder is playing better than ever since he left his job as principal trumpet with the RSO. Now doing occasional fill-in work with the symphony, he sounded terrific Saturday night, with lots of Spanish vibrato, a brilliant, mariachi-style tone, and plenty of screaming high notes which he nailed flawlessly. Allen Bachelder is a master of his instrument.
The second half of the concert featured the Saint-Saens' "Bacchanale" and Maurice Ravel's "Pavane for a Dead Princess." The evening ended with five symphonic dances, including the famous "Sleeping Beauty" waltz by Tchaikovsky, the "Hungarian Dance No. 1" of Brahms, the Slavonic Dance, Op. 46, No. 1 of Dvorak, the "Tritsch-Tratsch Polka" of Johann Strauss the Younger, and the "Radetsky March" of Johann Strauss the Elder.
The RSO earned a standing ovation and many shouts of bravo, but could not be prevailed upon for an encore.
Seth Williamson produces news features and a weekday afternoon classical music program on public radio station WVTF.
by CNB