San Francisco Classical Voice

The various brass instruments entered first, playing the final five measures of the Haydn symphony backwards, in chorale. As each instrumental group arrived, it stood for a few moments to allow recognition, and played idiomatic solo music. The brass were followed by the winds and finally the strings. Even the celli, certainly not marching instruments (as hilariously depicted in Woody Allen's "Take the Money and Run"), marched in, plucking and strumming.

Finally, towards the end the last entrant, a single tuba player (Tony Clements) wandered in, looking somewhat bewildered. In a little stage comedy, he was propelled towards his seat by the conductor. Arriving at his assigned place, he executed his standing solo passage, seating himself at exactly the moment of the orchestra's punctuated, composition-ending "thump."

Then, a voice over the public address system announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we present the Symphony San Jose Silicon Valley." The audience, delighted at the Overture's novelty, spontaneously rose to a standing ovation. The evening's rousing beginning was a jubilant and magical moment.

Conductor David Loebel was very effective, and the orchestra sounded better than it has at almost any time in the last decade. (The personnel were those of the recently departed San Jose Symphony). Loebel was lively, energetic, precise in his motions, accurate with his cues, sensible with his tempi. He made a positive, distinctive, and personal contribution to the fun of the opening overture and the music of the entire evening.

Furthermore, Loebel's selection as guest conductor for this inaugural concert was appropriate since it tied in to a small but important part of the musical heritage of San Jose itself: Loebel is the Music Director and Conductor of the Memphis Symphony, assuming his position after the sudden death of Alan Balter, his immediate predecessor there. Balter had served as the principal clarinetist with the now defunct San Jose Symphony; was a soloist on several occasions; took over the conducting duties at a moment's notice after the director George Cleve was injured in a fire; and was one of the ten candidates to succeed Cleve in 1991.

Stravinsky's Petrouchka, the evening's second work, offered another interesting historical tie-in to the musical life of the Bay Area, one that goes back to the 1930s: In 1911, Stravinsky was so impressed with the skill of the young and unknown conductor assigned the ballet's Paris rehearsals that he said, "Only he will conduct Petrouchka!" That was the beginning of the road to international fame for Pierre Monteux, later music director and conductor of the San Francisco Symphony for 17 productive years and, incidentally, one of Cleve's teachers.

Petrouchka remains a sparkling and arresting conception 91 years after its creation, full of life and vigor in its telling of the death of a Russian clown-puppet. Of the many excellent instrumental solos in Petrouchka, James Dooley, trumpet, Maria Tamburrino, flute, Lyn Reyna, piano, Robin Mayforth, violin, and Debbie Kramer, bassoon, were especially noteworthy.

Antonin Dvorák's Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World," in a lively presentation, was a metaphor for the new beginning in which the San Jose musical culture finds itself. The concert ended happily, with the orchestra's bright, shining, smiling, and gratified faces — to say nothing of the audience's unstinting appreciation. All this, in contrast to the sadness, the downcast eyes and bowed heads displayed by the musicians at the final concert of the former San Jose Symphony. On Saturday, many of the same faces showed only the joyous emotions of this return to the performing arena.

The man responsible for this symphonic comeback, Andrew Bales, Executive Director of the San Jose Ballet and the San Jose Silicon Valley Great Performances, now faces the challenges of developing the season's length and diversity, and selecting a music director, to keep this new ship afloat and sailing.