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January 25, 2007
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The virtue of sound In the sometimes-too-prissy world of classical music, a lot can be said for the virtue of sound?sheer, visceral, loud sound. All good music has power, but there?s no substitute for the sound produced by a symphony orchestra going full tilt in a score that calls for it. That kind of sound was one of the highlights of last weekend?s performance of the Greater Manchester Youth Symphony Orchestra. The group, made up high school musicians, raised the roof of the Manchester Community Music School with a rendition of the Danse Bacchanale from the opera ?Samson and Delilah? by Saint-Sa?ns. Led by conductor Ben Greene, the kids put it all together with this score, which builds to a thundering sustained climax that can fill a hall with glorious big sound, if the will to make it is there. It certainly was on Sunday, Jan. 21; at the end, percussion lines were hammered out with abandon, and as each section entered, it added its own screaming brilliance. It was music-making of a high order, but also an ocean of sound?and on those terms, it was one of the most exciting performances of any local group so far this season, and that includes the pros. (Full disclosure: I?m on the music?s school?s board, but these kids don?t get a pass.) Also worth a mention was a jaw-droppingly brilliant performance by high school violinist Eric Ho, who soloed in an excerpt from Lalo?s Symphonie Espagnol. Ho, a 17-year-old senior at Salem High has the stuff?assured technique, glorious tone, and an ability to project the violin line out over the orchestra that made for a top-notch performance. A bit more polish on some of the trickier passagework and he?s ready for Keith Lockhart. Oboe soloist Tim Gocklin of Manchester was equally good in an excerpt from the Oboe Concerto by British composer Ralph Vaughn Williams. Tackling this tranquil work, and wringing a great deal of music and drama from it, let Gocklin display a remarkably mature mastery of his instrument and what the score needed from it. Hearing it last Sunday, I got the feeling that Vaughn Williams himself would have been pretty pleased. ? Two conductors, not one: Conductor Robert Babb?s Granite State Symphony will join forces with conductor Ryan Turner and the Concord Chorale for a pre-Super Bowl matinee concert on Sunday, Feb. 4. On the bill: Beethoven?s Creatures of Prometheus Overture, Schubert?s lyrical Mass in G, a Mozart choral work, and, unusually, a concerto for bassoon by Hummel featuring Gregory Newton as soloist. It?s a 3 p.m. start at Concord City Auditorium, meaning you?ll be home in time for the Super Bowl. Tickets can be purchased at www.gsso.org, or by calling 226-4776. Tickets are $30/$25, general seating. For more information about the Concord Chorale and GSSO, visit www.concordchorale.org, and www.gsso.org. ? Get ?em while they?re hot: A recent trip to salvage mecca Zyla?s on Route 3 in Merrimack (the store that takes the stuff even Building 19 doesn?t want) found a healthy stack of ?Composer?s World? biographies of composer Franz Schubert. At two bucks a copy, I couldn?t resist. Aimed at younger readers and containing plenty of pictures, it was just my speed and a worthy bookshelf addition. So bravo for Zyla?s. Who?da thunk they could help you build your classical music collection, unless maybe you?re still into eight-track tapes?. |
1/11/2007 Time for kids
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