The audience obviously was delighted by the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra's most recent concert in this year's Classics Series, an evening billed as "Barnburners," in keeping with this year's theme of "Philharmonic on Fire."

Clearly, music director Alfred Savia's intention was to pull out all the stops and give a program of tested, foolproof crowd pleasers - lots of familiar tunes and grandiose endings, complete with a roaring chorus to end things. Insofar as this was the intention, the concert was a roaring success.

The evening got started with Nicolai's Overture to "The Merry Wives of Windsor," a well-tested concert chestnut which was very well received.

To me, though, this was the weakest part of the evening. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but the piece just never seemed to take flight. Overtures like this need the champagne touch, a bit of effervescence, but on this evening the piece seemed just a bit tired and hesitant.

Following the overture was Ponchielli's "Dance of the Hours," which forever will be known in two ways. First, it gave Allan Sherman a tune for "Hello, Muddah, Hello, Faddah." And it also gives those of us who have seen Disney's "Fantasia," the vision of alligators chasing hippos in ballerina tutus around some sort of Grecian temple.

And the orchestra did this one just about perfectly, from the opening shimmer of strings to the galloping finale. This one was fun.

Following the lovely Grieg "Nocturne" was Gretry's "Air from Cephale et Procris," a piece whose title is longer than its score. I had never heard this, but it was a sheer delight - no, make that a huge delight.

Scored for a piccolo and strings, this is about as cute a piece as you can stick in a concert. And I'll bet it's fiendishly difficult for the piccolo player, since she must play about three zillion notes in about two minutes, all without stopping or, apparently, taking a breath.

And Jessica Prus tossed it off like nothing, right to the final flourish.

The last piece in the first half of the concert was Tchaikovsky's "Capricco Italien."

I have always had a warm spot in my heart for this piece. It was a feature of the first recording of classical music my parents gave me when I was about 14, and, except for some ragged playing by the brass in exposed moments, the orchestra did it proud. Especially the string section, with a warm, luscious sound.

The second half of the concert featured choruses by Verdi and the "PolovtsianDances" of Borodin, after getting started with music from Wagner's "Lohengrin."

The first part of the Wagner, the Prelude to Act III, was perfect. Who knew the Philharmonic could play Wagner this well?

The problems only came when the chorus entered. The orchestra covered up the chorus all evening. This was true in every piece, and it was unfortunate.

The highlight of the second half was the Borodin, a properly barbarous and vicious reading.

I was once told by a conductor that, during the clarinet solos in the "Polovtsian Dances," "you should be able to smell the camels and taste the dates." And the aroma and the flavor were both there Saturday night, courtesy of principal clarinetist Thomas Josenhans' terrific performance.

In general, this was a concert which was not technically terrific, marred by faulty brass playing and by the orchestra's tendency to drown out the chorus.

On the other hand - and this is important - the audience loved it.

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2006/nov/19/barnburners-delights-philharmonic-audience/