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October 4, 2007
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More than a contender Last weekend's first-ever concert of the newly formed Palace Festival Orchestra produced a bouquet of suprises, all of tem pleasant. Organized quickly by Manchester’s Palace Theatre to fill the void left by the closing of the New Hampshire Symphony Orchestra earlier this year, the new group would have been considered a contender just for getting its act together so fast. But there’s good news: expectations were exceeded, and in many ways. First, attendance. A crowd of about 300 was on hand at the Palace on Sunday, Sept. 30. That’s a substantial increase from the NHSO’s final seasons, and on a sunny weekend afternoon, too. For a new orchestra playing classical music in Manchester, that’s major; score one for the Palace marketing machine. Then there’s presentation, which was straight and sober and very effective: no gimmicks, no marketing twists, no “yay, classical music is fun!” theme. Instead, it was all about the music: just a bare stage, a black backdrop and 45 musicians ready to play. No flowers or other distractions. Finally, there was the music. Conductor Robert C. Babb, with backing by the Palace Theatre, has assembled a hand-picked group of professionals who sounded clean and tight and together right from the downbeat of the first work on Sunday’s all-Beethoven concert, the “Creatures of Prometheus” overture. No opening night (or afternoon, actually) jitters here. Heard from the balcony, the sound was a wonder to behold — springy but not cold, energetic but not hyper, balanced but not without character. The playing was always good, and at times superb. A highlight was soloist George Lopez, who tackled Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Lopez kept to the classical style but added just the right amount of independent “Beethoven” spirit to make this early work come alive in each of the three movements. The end of the slow movement was one of those rare “you could hear a pin drop” moments where Lopez and the musicians made a few simple notes come together just perfectly, drawing out Beethoven’s melodic thread and creating an apogee of quiet beauty. But the concert’s big triumph was Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony No. 3, which Babb and the musicians realized with a sustained intensity and energy level that just never let up. Though played by a relatively small ensemble (buttressed by four double basses, which lent heft to the lower lines), the work came across as huge and sprawling and one of music’s great adventures. Somehow, Babb got the musicians to capture the spirit of freshness and innovation that inspiried this now-familiar score and get it into the performance, and that’s no easy feat. With its revolutionary “something new is happening” fervor, perhaps the Eroica was the perfect work for a new orchestra’s first concert. If the orchestra can keep up this level of playing, then there’s no doubt about it: classical music is alive and well in Manchester. • More Beethoven: If you’d like to hear Babb do more Beethoven, he’s leading the Concord-based Granite State Symphony this weekend in a program that includes the deaf composer’s Egmont Overture as well as Mozart’s splendid ‘Jupiter’ Symphony No. 41 in C major. In the last movement, check out how all the very differenty melodies fit together when played at the same time. Pianist George Lopez is on hand again as well, this time as soloist in Chopin’s lyrical and dramatic Piano Concerto No. 1. The performance is Saturday, Oct. 6, at 8 p.m. at Concord City Auditorium. Single ticket prices aren’t on the group’s Web site at gsso.org, but they’re available at the door. For more info, call 226-4776. • Evening at the opera: Fans of voice should check out this weekend’s concert by the Manchester-based singing group Belle Voci. If you’ve never heard opera live, it’s a great chance to check out the drama and passion of the human voice at close range. Dubbed “Evening at the Opera,” the program boasts first-rate local singers performing numbers from some of the great operas, among them Verdi’s Rigoletto, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and many others. Among the artists: sopranos Karol Carroll and Marta Ebel, tenor Christopher Porth and pianist Kathyrn Southworth. Special guests are soprano Kim Bolling and bass Mark Andrew Cleveland. The concert is Saturday, Oct. 6, at 7:30 p.m. at Grace Episcopal Church, 106 Lowell St., Manchester. Tickets cost $18, $15 for seniors. For info, call 848-7986 or visit www.bellevoci.org. • Quebec singers in Manch: For another kind of singing — this time with a specifically French flavor — a chorus from Quebec will sing at the Franco-American Centre in Manchester on Friday night. The Quebec City choral group Choeur de la Cité (The Heart of the City) will perform on Friday, Oct. 5, at 7 p.m. at the Franco-American Centre Franco-Americain, 52 Concord St. as part of its New England tour. Artistic director Carole Bellavance created the 63-voice ensemble in 2005. Its repertoire highlights popular songs of Quebec and France. Tickets $20, members $15. For info, call 669-4045.
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9/13/2007 The cure for overindulgence
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