San Francisco Classical Voice

Saturday night's all-Beethoven concert by the Vallejo Symphony, the first concert of their 68th season, was a lesson about the presence and then the absence of a harmony between intentions and results. Conductor David Ramadanoff is clearly a knowledgeable Beethoven musician. At his best, his sense of pace and line, deep feeling, and awareness of the spirit that breathes through a piece, were communicated to and understood by his players. At his worst, he is the person in charge of, and therefore responsible for, some unforgiveably bad orchestral playing.

It would be more understandable if the orchestra in a town of Vallejo's size produced performances that were neither very bad nor very good. The Vallejo Symphony is more enigmatic quite possibly due to the mix of community and professional players characteristic of regional orchestras. Important as this experience may be for resident players, it is still sad that an orchestra that can sound so cohesive, rich and focused at one moment can shoot itself in the foot the next moment with major blunders such as missed entrances, excruciating intonation, or general ignorance as to how an instrumental line contributes to the whole.

There is no question that the orchestra is spotty as regards personnel. There were loci of reliability on Saturday, as with the timpanist, first bassist, and first trumpeter. Then there were areas of near disaster as in the rear stands of the cellos and violins. Imbalance in the winds was sometimes offset when the group played with confidence, but an opulent wind sound just as suddenly could degenerate into hopeless fragments.

In only the first two measures of the opening work, the Coriolan Overture, was encapsulated all that was both right and wrong about the orchestra. In spite of the group's small size, the opening unison C was rich, powerful and deep but then the ensuing F Minor chord was fragmented by a series of uncoordinated attacks. When the first theme began, so did a disagreement between the cellos and the rest of the orchestra regarding tempo. This became egregious by the second theme, the cellos falling further and further behind. Here too sloppy intonation by the cellos started to affect seriously the orchestra's overall sound. Selective pruning in this section would help the orchestra create a consistently finer sound.

Next came Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto with Helene Wickett soloist, playing on what was described as the 'house' piano, a Baldwin grand that seemed dull, thuddy and unresponsive. Though lacking a virtuoso's polish, and missing many notes, Wickett gave a convincing performance of the work, aided by Ramadanoff's fine feeling for the spiritual and rarefied atmosphere in which this work breathes. Wickett often had deep insight into the music. In spite of many orchestral and pianistic mishaps, the sublimity of the music still emerged. The small size of the orchestra, and the good acoustics of the James P. Hogan Auditorium, made for some fine melding of sonorities between solo and ensemble.

The pianist had fresh and interesting things to say in the first movement's cadenza, though some of it depended on her left hand being curiously out of synch with the right. This mis-alignment extended to the orchestra's playing as well, different sections of the orchestra seeming to have differnt concepts as to where the beats lay. In spite of the musicality of the performance, conductor and pianist also seemed out of touch with each other.

The second half of the concert was devoted to Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. Here again, fine playing alternated with sophomoric mishaps. The deeper layers of details and nuances were lacking, but the work's own enthusiasm kept it chugging along. The tempo in the second movement was safely brisk and the opening tempo of the third movement safely conservative. One beautiful moment of ensemble stood out in the winds and violas in the second theme of the third movement. The fourth movement was simply beyond the capacity of the orchestra's strings.

Adding to Saturday night's intonation problems were unwanted contributions from the lobby. Through a series of open doors, a loud ceiling fan in the men's room, and the lobby's soda machine were clearly audible in the auditorium, and diabolically and microtonally out of tune with the orchestra. The entire slow movement of the concerto was marred by the beats occurring between the orchestra and these outside competitors. In addition, a more prudent late comer policy would also promote a healthier sound environment for the orchestra. The concert benefited from cogent and illuminating remarks by maestro Ramadanoff, in stark contrast to the pablum often offered to audiences in similar circumstances. His comments were augmented by a small but enjoyable lobby exhibit of facsimiles of Beethoven's manuscripts.

(Joseph Bloom is a concert pianist and teacher, member of the San Domenico School music faculty, formerly on the Rutgers University and Bennington College faculties, and former WXQR classical radio host.)

©1999 Joseph Bloom, all rights reserved