ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 18, 1997 TAG: 9703180084
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: SYMPHONY REVIEW
SOURCE: SETH WILLIAMSON THE ROANOKE TIMES
"Let there be light" was the watchword Monday night when the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and the Roanoke Valley Choral Society performed their "Planets" theme concert at the Roanoke Civic Center.
Music Director David Wiley led his players through an ambitious and difficult program that was highlighted by a light show, which the RSO hoped would enhance the listening experience. Selections from Haydn's oratorio "The Creation" were matched with Charles Ives' existential tone poem "The Unanswered Question" and Gustav Holst's "The Planets," which was followed by the world premiere of Margaret Brouwer's "new" planet, "Pluto."
Overall the Roanoke Symphony sounded very good. It's fun to hear so many players on stage at one time - "The Planets" requires a huge orchestra - and the result was a massive, polished and richly detailed sound. As for the light show - well, it wasn't a bad idea, but the Roanoke Civic Center's lighting wasn't up to it.. It seemed to add little to the experience of a concert that already was very good without any fancy extras.
From "The Creation," Maestro Wiley chose the "Representation of Chaos," a musical depiction of the formless void before the creation of the universe, and the choruses "What Wonder Doth His Work Reveal" and the familiar "The Heavens Are Telling." Especially enjoyable was soprano Marianne Sandborg, whose exquisite talent tends to dominate any setting in which it's heard. Sandborg and tenor Nick Leitch were the focal points of "What Wonder," one of the more beautiful combinations of choral, orchestral and solo vocal work the RSO has produced in recent years.
"The Unanswered Question" by the idiosyncratic insurance executive and part-time composer Charles Ives was a powerful and unsettling experience, as Ives no doubt intended that it should be. Principal trumpet Jim Kluesner turned in a beautiful performance here with his seven repetitions of the gnomic musical "question."
After intermission came the night's tour de force, a thoroughly satisfying reading of Gustav Holst's suite "The Planets," which required a hugely augmented orchestra including an extra harp, alto flute, exotic percussion and many other added instruments. From the menacing opening measures of five-four time in "Mars" until the end, it was a great performance. RSO composer-in-residence Margaret Brouwer's "Pluto," though obviously by a different hand, still fit in tolerably well and used the same lush Romantic idiom.
"The Planets" and "Pluto" got enthusiastic applause, and the Civic Center crowd was rewarded with an encore of John Williams' "Star Wars" theme, conducted - after Maestro Wiley apparently disappeared offstage - by none other than Darth Vader.
Seth Williamson produces feature news stories and a classical music program on public radio station WVTF (89.1 FM) in Roanoke.
LENGTH: Medium: 57 linesby CNB