REVIEW: Springfield Symphony Orchestra "Variation and Virtuosity"

Symphony Hall, Springfield MA

www.springfieldsymphony.org

May 3, 2025

by Lisa Covi

Marcelo Lehninger served as guest conductor for the last subscription concert of the 2024-2025 season (there will be an additional free Juneteenth Concert). Moving from the contemporary to the 19th century, the program achieved its desired theme of transformation not only in the musical presentation but by transfixing the audience with dynamic performances. Although the hall seemed less than half full, attendees received the program enthusiastically.

The first selection, "Temporal Variations (Beethoven Revisited)," was written by Ronaldo Miranda in 2014. Perhaps it takes a Brazilian-native conductor to deliver this Brazilian composer's lesser-known interpretation of variations in both tempo and our human experience of time through the weather. Lehninger chose this piece for the program to complement Beethoven's symphony since it includes quotes from several of his sonatas.

 

Through liberal use of the percussion section, whipcracks, xylophone and marimba punctuated the transitions between sweet pastoral melodies and atonal passages. The winds and horn section were in fine fettle, and though small in number, they blended well with the multitude of strings to lead fine call and responses.

Appearing only for the second selection, guest pianist Natasha Paremski was as strong as the golden vision of her personal presentation. Her piano technique demonstrated mastery of the Rachmananoff "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43". She demonstrated the strength to articulate the piano against the swell of the orchestra, the dexterity to play the proliferation of runs and frequent crossovers flawlessly and the ability to deliver intonation to convey the emotion of the familiar theme. The orchestra seemed to breathe as one with the soloist producing goose pimples and hair-raising mellifluousness.

The final selection was Beethoven's "Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92". Regarded by the composer as one of his best works, dance rhythms propelled celebratory motifs throughout each of the four movements. The performance vibrated with mastery and passion as a favorite for both musician and classical music audiophile. The hallmarks of Beethoven – tonal shifts between major keys, the drama of timpani thunder and the forceful dramatic coda in the loudest forte fortissimo – invited toe-tapping and armchair conductors to unite themselves to the endeavor.

REVIEW: Springfield Chamber Players, "Johnny Appleseed and Other Fun Stories"

52 Sumner, Springfield, MA

www.springfieldsymphonymusicians.com

December 8, 2024

by Michael J. Moran

Host Mark Auerbach introduced this Sunday matinee as a “family friendly” concert, and the enthusiastic audience had many younger members. The program featured three short works and one longer piece, each with immediate appeal to music lovers of all ages.

The concert opened with British composer Alan Ridout’s “Ferdinand the Bull,” a 1971 setting for solo violin and narrator of American author Munro Leaf’s classic 1936 children’s book, “The Story of Ferdinand.” The plot is set in Spain, where Ferdinand grows up preferring to “smell the flowers” under a cork tree by himself to practicing with his playmates for a bullfighting career, until an accident under his tree suddenly propels him into a bigtime ring in Madrid.

Photo by Brady LePage

Springfield Symphony Orchestra assistant concertmaster Marsha Harbison played her violin
with witty virtuosity, and Marty Kluger, SSO principal timpanist, narrated with droll humor, alternating deadpan and animated passages, and punctuated his reading with a cowbell, for Ferdinand’s mother (a cow) and wood blocks, for the excitement of the bullfight. Whimsical drawings by the book’s illustrator, Robert Lawson, were projected on both sides of the stage.   

Next came a ravishing section by SSO cellist Boris Kogan and pianist Clifton J. Noble, Jr., of “The Swan,” a popular excerpt from French master Camille Saint-Saens’ 1886 “Carnival of the Animals.” This was followed by “The Boston Wonder,” a 1959 setting for flute, piano, and narrator by Peter Schickele (aka P.D.Q. Bach) of his own comical tale about a cantankerous flute. SSO flutist Ellen Redman and Noble were nimble soloists, and Auerbach, an amusing narrator.

The major work of the afternoon was Noble’s “Johnny Appleseed,” commissioned and premiered in 2008 by the Longmeadow Chamber Music Society. The versatile composer again played piano and conducted an ensemble of Harbison, Kogan, Redman, Michael Nix on banjo, mezzo-soprano Justina Golden, and narrator Kara Noble, Jerry’s wife. The piece was inspired by Jane Yolen’s 2008 book about John Chapman, the real “Johnny,” who grew up in Longmeadow and famously planted apple trees across the U.S. two centuries ago.

The performance was a crowd-pleasing delight, with special plaudits to Golden, whose mellifluous voice replaced the children’s chorus in Noble’s original version with a wide emotional palette, and to Nix, whose fluent banjo added folksy charm.

The group's next concert take place on February 9, 2025.