| Euclid Orchestra Pops Performance. |
[May. 27th, 2009|07:12 am] |
I went to a concert by the Euclid Orchestra http://www.euclidorchestra.com/ Sunday, May 17th., motivated partly by the desire to hear a symphonic orchestra at less than Severance Hall prices, that the program was a Pops Concert, and mostly because I knew the Concertmaster Violinist, Amy Parsons. (I am informed that 1st chair 1st Violist is always Concertmaster in an orchestra.) As such, while enjoying the concert itself, I paid attention to the violins in particular.
The Program.
This was a full panorama of selections, none stinted, yet all done so well there was a hunger for more. How much more could be crammed into this concert I don't know. In retrospect, I wish I'd have yelled "Encore" in hope, however vain, of more. Eric Gratz, the Music Director, has a nice low key showman's presence. He'd discuss the elements of the program in a laid back way that brought the audience to greater attention than if he was willing to simply conduct. You came out a little smarter that you went in, but it was an easy enjoyable study. Much of the program could be considered medleys, except that I don't think a single stanza was dropped from the original score in the interest of brevity. The bridges on these were well scored and conducted.
The initial piece was "Salute to Broadway", arranged by Carl Strommen featuring "Give My Regards to Broadway", "Ain't Misbehavin' ", “My Funny Valentine”, “I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face” and “Thou Swell”. It took a little for me to adjust to the fact that this WAS an orchestra arrangement and NOT a pit arrangement, settle down and listen to the rendition – which was quite enjoyable once I got over that hurdle.
The next was "Pizzicato Polka", a French style polka, where the strings were plucked not drawn over. I'm not much of a fan of Polka, but this was fun and the (stripped down for this piece) Orchestra provided a full sound that gave it depth without losing liveliness.
There followed "Bugler's Holiday" featuring a trumpet trios and introduced with a discussion of "double tongue", which I had learned as "flutter tongue". They brought this in slowly, starting with simple notes attacked at some midpoint between staccato and sfortzando, later bringing in the double tongue as a coloring element rather than the defining element. The advantage of a live orchestra is that you can appreciate the challenge well met; the skill and complexity of "Bugler's Holiday" actually develops in the latter part where timing, range and technique get a major, but rewarding (at least for the audience) workout.
Finishing up before intermission was "Satchmo!" A Tribute to Louis Armstrong" featuring tunes noted for both his voice and his trumpet. These were "A Wonderful World", "When the Saints Go Marching In", "St. Louis Blues" and “Hello Dolly". I was less attentive than I might be because I was wishing my father could have been there, especially for "Saints”, that being one of the tunes played at his request during his memorial service. All I can say was that it was just too beautiful to not yearn to share it with him.
Following intermission, they led off with a "Beatles Medley", arranged by Manny Mendleson. The selections were "Eleanor Rigby", "Yesterday", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", and "When I'm 64". The stand out, from my perspective was "When I'm 64". Remember how I noted the absence of a "pit" feel on "Broadway". Somehow this was orchestrated, arranged and played so that I half expected Sky Masterson to walk on stage and roll a pair of dice. How that was elicited from, among other things 12 violins, 5 violas, 4 cellos, and a couple each of oboes and bassoons, I don't know. I just wish I had (and could capably read) the score.
Next was "On the Beautiful Danube Waltzes". This is another one where the complexity develops over the course of play. Everyone is familiar, from symphony to burlesque with the opening strains, but there these are gradually superseded by counterpoint and obbligato, as well as harmonic expansion as it progresses.
Last on the program was "A Tribute to Henry Mancini", arranged by Calvin Custer. The lead in was a couple stanzas from "Days of Wine and Roses", bridging to "Baby Elephant Walk", "Charade", "Pink Panther", and rolling back to a full exposition of "Day of Wine and Roses" again before launching into a "Peter Gunn" finale. It has been too long since I listened to Mancini and to hear it in live performance reminded me why I so loved stage band in high school.
Now, I started discussing paying some attention to the violins. Most of what I knew going into the concert was that a violin was generally played with a drawn bow on strings with no frets, i.e. the violinist (and violist, cellist and bassist for that matter) had to play each note by feel and hearing. This contrasts with other string instruments like the mandolin, dulcimer and guitar, to which we add harp, harpsichord and piano. This is wholly unlike any wind instrument, save perhaps the bugle.
So, what was observed?
For one thing, the persistence of intermittent vibrato. Most are familiar with violin solos with ample vibrato, many of which seem to be in minor key and just a shade mournful - for the jazz/standards enthusiast, "Golden Earrings" come to mind. However, the usual purpose of the vibrato is to soften the tone. My speculation on this (not discouraged in checking) is that the violin being, as I perceive, a "soprano" instrument, the notes usually run fairly high. The impact of this is that the overtones are too few in the hearing range, the tone comes off as too pure and the pure tone tends to grate on the ears after a while, or even immediately. Recall that your ear hears through the resonance of vibration in the hairs inside the inner ear. If instead of a few nearby hairs vibrating, only one hair vibrates, the effect is much like pulling a hair out of your skin, only it doesn't stop. The vibrato for a violin serves the same purpose as dither in a synthesizer. It creates a variety of tones around the attacked tone and smoothes the effect on the listener.
The other observation was that the violin comes into play at least as often in obbligato and counterpoint as in melody. To some extent this should be obvious since it is characteristic of all instruments. A voice always in lead lacks nuance, and response brings depth to the role in orchestration. However, the tonality of violin benefits from a more mellow feel and the attack is more mellow on a crescendo, than on staccato or sfortzando. So, very often, violin will come in on counterpoint rising in amplitude and almost sneaking into the piece. |
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