News-Letter

As the Hopkins Symphony Orchestra opened its 25th season, general manager Edie Stern congratulated faculty member Andrew Z. Fire on his winning the Nobel Prize in physiology. Now that the winners had been announced, she continued, it was safe for us to turn off our cell phones and listen to the performance. The audience laughed.

The program consisted of two highly challenging works, Samuel Barber's violin concerto and Sergei Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony. The two are a satisfying pair -- not disconcertingly disjunct, but not indistinguishably similar either. They both employ the sweeping lyricism that defines the end of the Romantic period as well as tuneful nationalistic folk motifs that prevail in many modern compositions. Of course, an American composer influenced by Irish melodies and taught in Europe communicates differently from a Russian composer. The Barber piece is in turn sweet and melancholy, with a lightness in texture and abundance of poignant wind solos, whereas the Rachmaninoff work, even at its most dulcet, is thicker and darker with heavier contributions from brass and percussion.

The orchestra played well throughout the evening, but really shined when the pieces were at their most lyrical stages. Conductor Jed Gaylin skillfully paced the orchestra through these ascending, swelling lines so that climactic moments were always highly effective. The orchestra responded with dynamic facility and clear attention to phrasing.

In the Barber concerto, soloist Lenuta Ciulei showed intelligent phrasing and impressive virtuosity. She effectively brought out the angularity and tension within the superficially pretty piece. The orchestra supported her dependably, if at times tentatively, and delivered a beautiful wind solo. The flaw of Barber's concerto is in its third movement. The movement, in modo perpetuo, becomes progressively faster, allowing the soloist no time for nuance or color, and grinds haphazardly to a frenetic halt. Ciulei played with admirable tenacity.

The Rachmaninoff showcased the orchestra's perfectly paced crescendos and strong brass section as well as Gaylin's clear ability to cull opposing themes from the group. Thematic material is reincarnated from one movement to the next, yet the context ranges from the gentle, almost pastoral third movement, to the chaotic, almost destructive fourth. The opening of the symphony is somber and moody, much like that of the Barber. The second half of the first movement was somewhat subdued. This interpretation heightened the vivacity of the rhythmically-driven second movement. The third movement exemplified the orchestra's best playing. The solo clarinet played smoothly, with an attractive, mellow tone that complimented the serenade-like quality of the movement. The lively fourth movement showed range and remained full of life even at low dynamic levels.

Gaylin introduced the piece by giving a short summary of each movement -- the third was "romantic in that way" and the fourth was "a mad troika ride." In this way, he made the potentially intimidating work accessible to even the first time concert-goer.

Unfortunately, there were very few audience members to benefit from his informative descriptions or from the spirited performance. The HSO's next concert will be held on Dec. 2. Now that the secret is out, hopefully the orchestra will have the audience they deserve.

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