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Orchestra delivers, MU shy

by Lauren Viera

Luscious scenes from Viennese pastures and contemporary American instrumentation greeted a large crowd of Obies Wednesday at Finney Chapel when the Oberlin Orchestra and choir group Musical Union (MU) took stage. While the latter's performance was not remarkable, the orchestra's keen sense of crowd charming saved the evening.

The concert began with a start and went full swing into American composer Ned Rorem's Frolic. The title couldn't have been more appropriate. The orchestra played the piece with loud, perky open tones, reminiscent of frontier-like programmatic elements. The entire string section plucked simultaneously as if their composer, Louis Lane, were their puppet master. The main focus of the piece, however, was in the syncopating rhythms, emphasized by much percussion and almost circus-like melodies in the brass.

The oddest part of the piece came at its conclusion, when Lane said, "The piece is short. I have a feeling you didn't quite get it. Let's do it again." So, the orchestra proceeded to repeat the four-minute piece. This time, however, Frolic was all the more brilliant. The effect had an even more open-canyon, open-canvas feel, upon which the orchestra painted Rorem's lively story. And the finish was more vibrant than its first run; the group punctuated their ending with full effort, as if to reassure the audience that this was the true ending.

Having proved their exuberance with the first piece, the true test awaiting the orchestra now was to live up to the challenge of mastering one of Beethoven's most famous pieces, his Symphony No. 6 in F Major, "Pastoral." For performing a piece so brilliant, anticipation was high, but with the opening notes of the Allegro ma non tropo alone, the Oberlin Orchestra proved themselves wonderfully.

The wafts of country air and pleasantness of nature greeted Finney with summer brilliance and content. The orchestra nailed every crescendo and played every melody with ease. Although the whole piece movement seemed a bit fast, maybe this was because each measure longs to be savored, what with such lush lyricism. It was that good.

Aside from the brilliant opening movement, the highlight of the piece - and the evening - came during the transitional end of the Scherzo Allegro, with the hints of a programmatic storm in the following movement. The violins expressed rapid raindrops with their delicate, anxious whining and bass tremolos gave warning of the darkening clouds overhead.

However, once the violent drums hit, the movement's brilliance shone the clearest. The timpani drums swung with rage; the full ensemble was storming, wonderfully. The once happy violins were now helpless against the bass' surging lead, but the struggle between them was magnificent. The crashes of orchestral emotion didn't give in until the symphonic storm had run its course.

In fact, the emotion did not give way until the piece ceased altogether, coming to a head with the Allegretto. It was the beautiful calm after the storm, literally; picking up in tempo and confidence while the timpani's thunder rolled away. A horn call announced the end of the storm and a return to the pastoral and all that is wonderful about Beethoven's genius. The orchestra truly captured the essence of the Viennese style.

The second half of the performance was not as striking. The orchestra was joined with the Musical Union for Mussorgsky's Scenes from Boris Godunov. The opening was sinister and mischievous; pizzicato strings gave the feeling that time was running out.

The choir, however, did not however, did not hold the anticipation. While strong as a group with rich, full cadences in the chorus, the singers could hardly compete against the orchestra elsewhere. Fortunately, thanks to Gerald Crawford singing solo bass-baritone, the piece was salvaged due to his confident articulation.

While Musical Union gave only a good performance, the Oberlin Orchestra saved Wednesday's concert with its excellence and keen musical perception. No doubt the crowd expected brilliance from Pastoral, and it was delivered. Though the night's climax was buried in its middle, the evening was worthwhile.


Oberlin

Copyright © 1997, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 125, Number 24; May 9, 1997

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