Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 22, 1994 TAG: 9402220012
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: SETH WILLIAMSON CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
You wouldn't exactly say Salness' light is hidden under a bushel as a member of a world-renowned ensemble like the Audubon Quartet. But maybe all those years of sitting behind David Ehrlich hadn't prepared either the violinist or his audience for his beautiful solo work with the Chamber Orchestra of Southwest Virginia.
Salness' assured playing, confident bearing and big sound didn't fit the classic profile of a second fiddle, that's for sure. And the audience liked his work so much they interrupted the performance, conducted by James Glazebrook, at the end of a number of individual movements instead of waiting politely to the end. These folks wanted Salness and his fellow players to know they liked what they were hearing NOW, and were in no mood to wait.
The Chamber Orchestra of Southwest Virginia was a pleasant surprise too, at least to this reviewer, who had never heard the group.
Composed mainly of professional musicians from the faculties of Virginia Tech, other area universities, professional players from out of state and a few students, the ensemble plays at a much higher level than the New River Valley Symphony and is, section for section, equal to or better than the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra.
In fact, bassoonist John Husser, trumpeter Allen Bachelder, trombonist Dayl Burnett and hornist Wally Easter are all current or former principal players with the RSO, and conductor Glazebrook is the RSO's concertmaster.
Saturday night, they played with the ensemble and togetherness of a string quartet or piano trio. It was a pleasure to hear the clean entrances, dramatic dynamic contrasts and tight playing of this group, which I hope has a long life in its current incarnation.
No matter that you may think you've heard enough performances of "The Four Seasons" to last a lifetime, it's one of those pieces which is good enough to draw you into its world every time you hear it. The four linked violin concertos are an early form of program music, depicting typical country scenes from each of the seasons.
For this piece, Glazebrook had four first violins, four second violins, three cellos, three violas and a double bass. The small orchestra made for a transparent texture in which it seemed that individual players could still be distinguished.
Salness played with joy, confidently handling the baroque ornamentation, dancing lightly over the fleet passages and in general appearing to enjoy himself. He was especially good in the summer and winter concertos, bringing the third-movement summer storm to a rousing finish and handling the rapid first-movement runs with immaculate articulation.
Salness was almost singing in the rain in the middle movement of the winter concerto, as he spun forth long lyrical lines to the accompaniment of pizzicato raindrops from the rest of the strings.
He earned a prolonged standing ovation with many shouts of "Bravo!" and was twice called back by the crowd.
After the intermission came the little Symphony No. 26 in E flat Major, K. 186 by Mozart. It got a similarly happy treatment from these players, as winds were added to the baroque string section.
Igor Stravinsky's "Pulcinella" suite saw the biggest orchestra of the night with the addition of trombone and a second double bass. But Stravinsky's neoclassical clarity fit well with the Mozart and Vivaldi. The melodies themselves were written by Giovanni Pergolesi, though in recent years a few of the tunes were discovered to have been authored by Count Nicholas de Chedeville.
The astringent Stravinskian harmonies and the ironic neo- classical humor in the "Vivo" movement added up to a bracing finale, and earned a good round of applause.
Seth Williamson produces news features and a weekday afternoon classical music program on public radio station WVTF (89.1 FM) in Roanoke.
by CNB