College Orchestra raises concert hall roof

Author: Andrew Throdahl

When Associate Professor of Music Greg Vitercik commented on the College orchestra's significant improvement since last year he did not hesitate to gloat. "We can do anything we want to now," said Vitercik. This certainly proved true at Thursday evening's concert in the Center for the Arts Concert Hall featuring two of the better known compositions in the orchestral repertoire - Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain," and Dvorak's Ninth Symphony, the "New World." In addition to these two blockbusters, Sally Swallow '07, the winner of this year's Alan and Joyce Beucher Concerto Competition, sang the show piece "Glitter and be Gay" from Leonard Bernstein's operetta Candide.

From the opening of "A Night on Bald Mountain," the orchestra's improvements were evident. The winds matched the strings in volume, and the brass showed a confidence that was not apparent in December's concert. When the orchestra played together, particularly in louder sections, it sounded excellent. Unfortunately, when individual sections played alone, the imperfections were slightly more noticeable.

One understands upon hearing a full orchestra, particularly a competent one, that the concert hall is better suited for chamber music than symphonies. For example, at times during the Mussorgsky piece the percussion was deafening, while the slow section that ended the work exposed some of the expected intonation problems in the string section. The paltry sound of the "church bells" that ended the so-called "Black Sabbath" was a hint at a need for better percussion instruments as well. The effect, however, was exactly what Mussorgsky intended as the spirit of the performers was obvious to everyone.

The highlight of the concert was Dvorak's perennially popular symphony, written as a model for what American music should have been at a time when America's cultural significance was being called into question.

In a nod to the European tradition, Dvorak makes extensive allusions to Beethoven's ninth symphony, most obviously with the third movement's falling fifths and the insistent timpani parts. The fourth movement is one of my favorites, partly because it exposes John Williams as a fraud. The opening figure of the strings is undoubtedly the basis for "Jaws." The brass section carried the famous melody, the basis for the imperial march of the popular "Star Wars" films, utterly convincingly. They sounded professional if not for slight rhythmic unevenness.

What was truly remarkable about Thursday evening's concert was how, as the symphony progressed into ever harder movements, the orchestra improved. This wonderfully accessible symphony, perfect for the classically ignorant audience members, seemed to have a positive effect within the orchestra as everyone became more engrossed in the material. In the words of Julie Lipson '07, "they became bolder."

In stark contrast to the majesty of the Dvorak was Bernstein's "Glitter and be Gay." Our culture's unfortunate appreciation for corny comedy was made embarrassingly apparent as Swallow put on various pieces of costume jewelry to raucous laughter. Still, Swallow's performance was indicative of her technical mastery, and her talent as an actress was undeniable. Chair of the Music Department Peter Hamlin agreed, "Sally did so well. She is such a technically suave singer." The question I asked myself, however, was why is she doing this with a symphony-orchestra? The College orchestra, for all its improvements, deserves better. They deserve a real concerto. Am I mistaken in assuming that a concerto competition is intended for concerti?

Hearing that the 2007 concerto competition's "honorable mentions" were performing two of the undying masterpieces of the western musical canon (Prokofiev's Violin Concerto no. 2 and Schumann's A Minor Piano concerto), I question the opinion of the concerto competition judges. The coloratura of "Glitter and be Gay" is gratuitous compared to the nobler ambitions of the classic concerto repertoire, which spans some six centuries of music. Swallow's talent aside, the great concerti are not virtuosic for the sake of being virtuosic.

Lipson, a faithful attendant of orchestra concerts since her first year, commented on her pride in the orchestra's development. "Even if they lack the polish of a professional orchestra," she said, "they are just as good as any community orchestra I've heard. They are so much tighter than in previous years! I also think they did a great job of picking accessible pieces for a community apathetic to classical music. These are really musical kids who pulled it off!"

When Conductor Troy Peters asked the graduating seniors to rise, it was made clear that the majority of the orchestra was comprised of underclassmen. If the improvements in the orchestra are due to this flush of new musicians, then future orchestra concerts will surely be comparable if not better than Thursday's.

"I was surprised by the excellence expected of the orchestra at such an academic school," first-year first cellist Shelsey Weinstein said. "Aren't we good?"