2003 Year in Review

A Night at the Symphony

Few music forms in today’s society rely on the music more than the performer. The success of popular, country, rock, hip-hop, rap, and soul music, for example, is more often than not tied closely to an individual or a group who prance and stance their way through a tune of dubious quality. Showmanship is the order of the day, not musical integrity. Such was not the case Saturday evening when the Clinton Symphony Orchestra performed its first concert of its golden anniversary season. Here, principal conductor Steven Zike, the soloist, and the orchestra let the music speak for itself.

Maestro Zike led the orchestra through an eclectic program of selections chosen for their pictorial nature as well as their musical value. The first part of the program featured bass-baritone Mark Kapusinki in vocal works by Haydn and Mendelssohn, followed by three songs from Broadway successes. The second half of the program highlighted purely orchestral ‘tone’ pieces by Beethoven, Barber, and Grieg.

The concert began and ended on a joyful note. Godfrey Ridout’s Fall Fair opened the evening’s schedule. Written on commission for a United Nations concert, the piece is a rollicking tour-de-force, melodious and tuneful in the conservative symphonic tradition.

Kapusinski, a native of Fulton, followed the Ridout with two recitatives from Haydn’s The Creation and an aria from Mendelssohn’s Elijah. His rich, resonant voice gave full value to “And God Created Great Whales” from the Haydn oratorio and the arioso qualities of “Lord God of Abraham” from the Mendelssohn oratorio.

The final movement to Mendelssohn’s ‘Reformation’ Symphony No. 5 followed as an orchestral divide between the two Kapusinski portions of the first half of the program. The orchestra acquitted itself quite well, with the brass particularly shining in the "Ein feste Burg" section.

Two songs from Paint Your Wagon and one from Showboat led to the Intermission. Here, Kapusinski showed his affinity for Broadway, giving a rousing rendition of “They Call the Wind Maria”, and a compelling performance of the war-horse “Ol’ Man River.” In all instances, Kapusinski gave admirable performances and another indication of the fine talent that resides in this region.

The orchestra was in fine mettle for the second half of the program. They began with a stirring performance of Beethoven’s overture to Goethe’s drama Egmont, written to celebrate the Dutch ouster of the Spanish from the Netherlands. Opening with repeated somber chords, the overture, nevertheless, progresses to a final ‘victory symphony’ that the CSO played with a judicious lack of restraint.

The piece of the evening, however, was the Samuel Barber Adagio for Strings. Adapted for string orchestra from his string quartet, the Adagio seems to carry the cares and woes, the sufferings and sorrows of the world within its notes. Used to great effect in several movies (Platoon, for example), the piece can be played in almost any manner without losing its poignancy. The CSO strings and maestro Zike deserve kudos for their restrained, yet affective treatment of the score, letting the music wend its way without the overwrought sentimentality that often plagues other renditions of the music.

To close the concert, the orchestra performed the Grieg Peer Gynt Suite No. 1. The suite is comprised of four selections, with the two outer pieces easily recognizable to the majority of listeners – "Morning Mood" and "In the Hall of the Mountain King." One of the selections was featured in the first CSO concert in 1954. The readings of the music by the CSO were in top form, so that the concert ended as it began – with a rousing, thunderous finale. Following the performance, one audience member said she “…for a moment, expected to see Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny appear.”

The Clinton Symphony Orchestra has two further concerts scheduled for this golden anniversary season, in February and in April. For those who value good music and good music making, we can only wish there were more.

by William Driver, Guest Columnist
October 28, 2003