Orchestra sparkles to light up a dreary evening

Saturday evening's concert by the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra made a deeply satisfying evening, a welcome respite from the lousy weather outside and from the constant battering our ears take from the meretricious gunk that we hear almost constantly as we move through the day.

This evening was a fine reminder of why we continue to listen to, and be engaged by, the music of the symphony orchestra. It's a shame that only 1,000 people made it to The Victory to hear it.

The opener, Dvorak's Scherzo Capriccioso, has never been one of my favorite, or even favored, pieces. To me, it sounds like all stops and starts - if it were a Texan, it would be all hat and no cowboy. I may be alone on this (as I seem to be on so much), but the EPO gave it a terrific reading Saturday, full of excellent ensemble playing and great rhythmic precision, with a gorgeous English horn solo by Meaghan Heinrich. (Note to Maestro Savia - "Swan of Tuonela." Soon.) My only note says "Bravo." A fine start to the evening.

Violinist John McFarlane, the EPO's concertmaster, was the soloist for the next work, Sergei Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1. Now as far as I'm concerned, we don't hear nearly enough of Prokofiev's music -I can take all of it you can shove down my ears - and I am thouroughly tired of the same old fiddle pieces by Mendelssohn, Bruch and Wienawski, so I was thoroughly looking forward to this.

McFarlane is a fine violinist, make no mistake. The Prokofiev is a demanding work for the soloist, who plays almost every single measure of the piece's length and who has to demonstrate just about every sound a violin can make. The concerto is stuffed with double stops, left hand pizzicato and passages in the stratosphere. If it is half as hard to play as it appears, it is a tough one indeed.

And an enjoyable one. The piece has lyricism, sardonic wit and passages of the most delicate and ethereal beauty, where McFarlane showed a delicacy completely at odds with the more swashbuckling sections.

The orchestra provided a quite admirable accompaniment for the soloist, from the initial feathery tremolos of the violas to the dreaming, lyrical conclusion.

Toward the end of the third movement, there was a moment when the soloist got swamped in sound, but the moment passed - I probably shouldn't even mention it.

The evening concluded with the Fourth Symphony of Johannes Brahms, his last symphony and almost his last work for orchestra.

There is not much to say about this symphony. It is clearly and unquestionably one of the very greatest works of European music, a mature and serious work of great depth and energy.

The EPO gave this masterpiece a stately and unhurried reading. Maestro Savia's tempos were a bit slower than I am used to hearing in this symphony, but as I listened I felt that they lend a gravity to the music that is completely appropriate. Several moments stood out - the beautiful playing of the cellos in the first movement, the rich woody sound of the wind section in the second movement and some extraordinarily subtle dynamic by the entire orchetra.

This was, to me, one of the highlights of the season so far, an evening of solid serious music with emotional and expressive content, and I am glad I was there.

Bravo.

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2007/jan/22/orchestra-sparkles-to-light-up-a-dreary-evening/