PCO Winter Concert 2000

Charlie Deck
Staff Writer

This weekend, the Pomona College Orchestra treated the 5-C community to its seasonal winter concert. Conducted by Professor Eric Lindholm, the Pomona College Orchestra performed a much more conservative program than their last concert. Instead of cutting edge harmonies and percussionists walking through the house, the audience was greeted by familiar tunes of Rossini's "The Barber Of Seville," the delicate harmonies of Mozart and Brahms' heartfelt and complex songs. In effect, the concert was programmed to be much more of a crowd-pleaser -- which it was -- and which tends to be the norm in the holiday season.

The first work performed was Rossini's "Overture to The Barber of Seville." Whether they know it or not, almost everyone has heard bits and pieces from this opera, maybe from a car commercial or an arrangement played in 7th grade wind ensemble. As Professor Lindholm's program notes indicate, the work the PCO played was an overture Rossini had used in previous operas, although it is now forever wedded to "The Barber of Seville." The sprightly composition was a perfect opener, although the perhaps sleepy string section had trouble playing out enough to balance the one-man low brass section. The only problem that plagued the orchestra throughout the night was a sort of remoteness to the orchestral sound. A reasonable explanation is that Garrison Hall, the venue for this weekend's performance, was not built specifically for full symphonic sound.

After the Rossini, the PCO played a perennial favorite, Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A. Originally written for a basset clarinet, basically a clarinet with extra keys down at the bottom, the concerto is usually performed and recorded on an A clarinet. It's possible to play it on a Bb clarinet -- if you like playing in B major instead of C major. Featured as the winner of the 2000 PCO concerto competition, Pomona Arielle Cooley fronted the orchestra and played with a particularly warm tone that penetrated the orchestra sound superbly. She savored the Adagio perfectly, despite the orchestra occasionally trying to rush ahead and get onto the more exciting third movement. The rapid arpeggios of the Rondo were handled wonderfully by Ms. Cooley, and the orchestra finally caught some of the concerto's contagious light-heartedness, satisfyingly wrapping up the first half of the concert.

After a brief intermission, the PCO churned out one of Brahms' later pseudo-symphonic works, his Serenade #2 in A major. The five-movement piece began with an Allegro Moderato with a woodwind ensemble introducing the movement's themes. Throughout the work the woodwind section is played off the strings, lending an almost chamber music quality to the piece. The woodwinds were quite good, especially in the second movement, which called for several passages with articulated altissimo runs -- a nightmare, intonation-wise, for some players. The third movement taught the audience just how hard the French horn is to play. A lighter Menuetto, which follows the Adagio, adventures quite far from a standard Mozartian minuet, but then returns back to strongly thematic material to prepare the audience for the energetic Rondo. The fifth movement certainly was energetic, if prodded to enthusiasm by the stun gun that is the piccolo. Appearing only in the final movement of the Brahms, this loud and high instrument resonated particularly well with the hall. Nevertheless it was a tension-breaking release of the occasionally moody depths of the previous movements.

As usual, the PCO served up a delightful pre-finals program. Drawing on all five colleges for players, many of whom have graduated from excellent regional ensembles such as the Greater Boston Youth Orchestra, the Orchestra has consistently played excellent music excellently. Whether you know someone in the string section or not, don't hesitate to go out and check out their Spring offering.

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