Imperial Valley Press: Monday, April 25, 2005

Concert Review: Imperial Valley Symphony “Young Artist” Concert

Date of Concert: Saturday, April 23, 2005

Used by permission

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CONCERT REVIEW

Symphony waltzes its way into a strong season ending

By Van A. Decker

Special to this newspaper

The Imperial Valley Symphony ended its thirty-first season Saturday night before a small audience of about 250 with a world premiere, a local young artist, and the strong Viennese presence of Johann Strauss, Jr.

Each composition on the program began with a musical commentary by Maestro Joel Jacklich including humorous anecdotes on the composers and compositions. The concert opened with the world premiere of Overture to a Lost Opera by contemporary English composer Barry Stronge. Although Stronge is alive and well in the twenty-first century, his music is a deliberate reminiscence of a bygone era. Stronge, a self-taught bassoonist, has performed much of his life in amateur orchestras and woodwind quintets. When one of the quintets lost its French horn player and the group found the literature for the remaining quartet limited, Stronge began to compose specifically to meet the necessity. Favorable reaction by players and audience alike spurred him on to compose further works and expand his instrumental scope. Having never been formally schooled in composition, he turned for models to the styles of works he knew best from years of performance in amateur orchestras: the Classical and Romantic. A recent challenge to compose an orchestral overture in the style of Rossini brought about the work heard on Saturday. He certainly captured Rossini’s spirit well. The work was well-crafted with a good opening, and contained the signature “Rossini crescendo”—in which a melody is played softly by a small portion of the orchestra and then immediately repeated several times, each time adding additional instruments to make the crescendo through the accumulation of increasing numbers as well as through additional volume from the players. The effect was as Rossini would have intended, had he been the actual composer. The orchestra played with rhythmic precision, and the overall effect was a good opening for the evening’s concert.

Violist John Bonano, a 2002 graduate of Southwest High in El Centro School and student of Carolyn Sechrist, won the 2005 I.V.S.A. Young Artist Competition in February and was the featured soloist of the evening in Johann Christian Bach’s Viola Concerto in C Minor. As the winning young artist, he received a $500 scholarship in addition to his performance with the Imperial Valley Symphony. The slow, lyric second movement showed Mr. Bonano at his best: the music was very expressive and heartfelt. The first movement was enthusiastically played with great dynamic contrast—from bold double fortes to delicate pianissimos. The only shortcoming was the occasional inconsistency in intonation, particularly in the upper register during the last movement.

The first half of the concert ended with the Blue Danube Waltzes by Johann Strauss, Jr. The strings were wonderfully together and uplifting, taking one back to a time when life was simpler and less stressful.

Strauss’ Overture to The Gypsy Baron opened the second half. The work was dramatic and dynamic, with especially delightful solos from oboist Susan Barrett. Pizzicato Polka followed—a nice contrast in the concert—short and sweet! The Thunder and Lightening Polka provided another “striking” contrast: the percussion did a particularly fine job, with lightening cymbal crashes, bass drum and timpani thunder rolls, and a clean snare drum keeping the whole ensemble in a tight rhythm and consistent tempo.

Perpetuum Mobile showed off all the talented musicians in a series of instrumental solos and duets and caught the audience off-guard with its surprise ending. The rich, warm harmonies, along with the flowing waltz rhythm of final piece of the evening, Roses from the South, made for a nice close. By the smiles on the faces after the concert, it was a most enjoyable trip to the Viennese world of Johann Strauss, Jr. Thanks for another great concert, and for keeping orchestral music alive in the Valley!

>>Van Decker has a doctorate in composition from the University of California, San Diego and is an assistant professor of music at Imperial Valley College where he teaches music theory, harmony, m.i.d.i. composition, digital recording, piano, guitar, and directs the jazz ensemble “Pacific Fire.”

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