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SYMPHONY REVIEW Mettlesome Performance September 28, 2002
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By Thomas Goss
Take one small chamber orchestra. Sprinkle lightly with local itinerant chopmeisters like concertmaster Kathleen Dillon, principal violist Linda Ghidossi-DeLuca and Andrew McCorkle heading the bass section. Add David Ramadanoff at the podium, a conductor with a sense of precision and scale. The results are likely to be an earnest and satisfying program, as was Saturday night's 71st season opener for the Vallejo Symphony in Vallejo's Hogan Auditorium.
Pushing the boundaries of a small orchestra to the absolute limit has become so common as to be a cliché, and Ramadanoff avoided the temptation, aiming more for elegance and wit than fireworks. For this purpose, the opening pieces were well-chosen if also well-worn. In Mozart's Marriage of Figaro Overture and Haydn's "Surprise" Symphony (No. 94 in G), the strengths of this ensemble were generously underlined. Well-balanced wind lines with crisp, radiant tone interacted keenly with the abundant energy of the string players.
Of particular note was the consonance, richness, and symbiosis of the middle strings, underlined by generous eye contact between Ghidossi-DeLuca and principal second violin Christine Meals. A similar rapport might well have benefited Dillon and Elizabeth Vandervennet, principal cello, whose lack of connection led the vertical aspects of the music astray at quicker, more complex points. The firsts were also plagued by a distracting imprecision of pitch at points of high drama, particularly perilous in the opening of the second movement of the Haydn. But guided by Ramadanoff's sense of expectation and practicality, the first set had nice classical contours, by both architectural and aural definitions.
Gregory Fulkerson was an inspired choice for featured soloist in the second set performance of the Brahms Violin Concerto. He matched Ramadanoff's approach of mind over matter in his playing from on top of the music rather than beneath it. From the first notes of the solo entrance, Fulkerson's vision of the piece remained consistent, from which the occasional errant pitch or scrap of imperfect phrase could subtract little. In the development of the second subject, he evinced a fearless tenderness, tying together the re-entry of the main theme with a passionate logic that set the stage for a playful but thoughtful cadenza. Allowing the tortured ecstasies to unwind with restraint encouraged the apex of excitement to peak right at the end of the movement, where it belonged, as the orchestra rejoined the soloist in an upward arc of emotion, rather than spending the climax many measures before as has been so common in some interpretations of this work. In the second movement, Fulkerson's tone was reaching without unduly imploring, loving without decaying sweetness. Heartfelt yet cautious lines permitted the wonderful moments between emotional arcs to settle in with mystery and conviction. The third movement proved more than a series of athletic gestures, as Fulkerson devised a singing rather than shouting approach, superior to the polemical tradition of this concerto as soloist versus orchestra. As much as with any established work, a performance of the Brahms concerto is part of an ongoing dialogue with history. It is as interesting to note as it was gratifying to listen how the purpose and presence of soloist and accompanying orchestra melded with such ease and grace. The six curtain calls were not merely the response of an overawed suburban audience to easy virtuosity. Soloist and orchestra deserved every one of them.
(Thomas Goss is resident composer for Moving Arts Dance Collective, is a member of New Release Alliance Composers and the Cabaret Composers Consortium, and sits on the steering committee of the Bay Area Chapter of the American Composers Forum.)
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David Ramadanoff
Gregory Fulkerson