ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 19, 1996 TAG: 9603200002
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: CONCERT REVIEW
SOURCE: SETH WILLIAMSON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
MEMO: NOTE: Also ran in March 20, 1996 Current.
Now there are five.
The performance phase of the Roanoke Symphony's search for a new music director and conductor came to an end Monday night at the Roanoke Civic Center when Yong-Yan Hu conducted a strong, audience-pleasing program.
Maestro Hu, the fifth and last finalist, made a favorable impression on a house that awarded him good applause and one standing ovation. It's safe to say that each of the five job applicants has partisans among orchestra and audience, and Hu's muscular performance will be fresh in the minds of all as the deliberations about whom to hire begin.
First on Monday night's program was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's serenade known as "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik," or "A Little Night Music," which one great musicologist has termed "the most beautiful piece of occasional music ever written."
Conducting with no baton, no score, no podium and no hall amplification, Hu launched into an buoyant performance that brimmed with high spirits. It was light, clear and marked by a fine ensemble from the small, Mozart-size orchestra. Everyone was together from start to finish in a reading that was notable for beautiful attacks and clean intonation - when the massed strings bit into a note, you could almost see the rosin dust rising from the bows.
Next was RSO Composer-in-Residence Margaret Brouwer's lovely tone poem "Remembrances for Orchestra." This was Brouwer at her best: lyrical, accessible, powerful and deeply moving. I have heard a number of Brouwer works in several venues, and "Remembrances" made the best impression by a long shot. If more contemporary composers would write like Brouwer in this vein, the uneasy armed truce between audiences and modern music would quickly come to an end.
The work began as a great lament - it is an elegy for a friend of the composer - and moved on to a faster midsection marked by noble utterances from the horns. In the long second section there were numerous gorgeous solos for winds, including a ravishing line from solo oboe over timpani roll and pedal tones from the double basses. There was also a lovely soliloquy for clarinet. The mood alternated between gentle sorrow and striving affirmation. "Remembrances" ended on a rising three-note figure from concertmaster James Glazebrook, and the piece was quickly awarded enthusiastic applause, bravos and a standing ovation. Hu was careful to stay out of the spotlight during the applause so Brouwer could get as much credit as possible for her beautiful tone poem.
After intermission the second half of the concert was devoted to the great Symphony No. 2 of Johannes Brahms. Hu's unorthodox reseating of the orchestra worked to its most audible effect here, with the double basses to the left side, the horns all the way to the right side and front, the celli to the center left and the second violins more to the right.
As a result, the string sound was bigger and more spacious. It also seemed that perhaps the brass players were having trouble hearing some of the rest of the orchestra, judging by the number of small but noticeable problems on some entrances.
In sum, however, it was a warmly lyrical reading of this glowing Romantic classic that came to a rip-roaring end with a full-throated cry from the horn section and other winds. Hu and his players earned a good round of applause and the last of the RSO's potential conductors was returned to the stage three times for further recognition by a happy civic center crowd.
Seth Williamson produces feature news stories and a weekday classical music program on public radio station WVTF (89.1 FM) in Roanoke.|
Seth Williamson produces feature news stories and a weekday classical music program on public radio station WVTF (89.1 FM) in Roanoke.
Seth Williamson produces feature news stories and a weekday classical music program on public radio station WVTF (89.1 FM) in Roanoke.
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