Brilliant soloist shows richness of trombone
By SALLY VALLONGO
BLADE STAFF WRITER
With eloquent guest conductor Giordano Bellincampi in command, the Toledo Symphony's Classics Concert VII program offered highlights from a century's worth of powerful compositions to a most appreciative audience.
Small wonder listeners were on their feet so often and for so long: The symphony never has sounded better than it did from the first bright measures of Samuel Barber's Overture for The School for Scandal to the final diminuendo of Richard Strauss' tone poem, Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
Add to that the brilliant performance by soloist Garth Simmons in Christopher Rouse's impressive Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra, and the sum total was a rich and stimulating evening.
Written during the Great Depression in 1933, the Barber is nothing if not high-spirited, sophisticated, and dynamic.
Bellincampi, whose fluid conducting style eschews baton, coaxed richness, and velvety texture from the strings.
How novel to bring forward one of the traditional back-row brass players. That was the first effect of seeing Simmons, principal trombone and occupant of the Edward H. Schmidt chair - Schmidt was the concert's honoree - in front of the orchestra for the Rouse Concerto.
The second and more lasting impact was the tremendous range of tonal variety, articulation, and range called for in this 1991 work, a Pulitzer Prize winner that makes clear its capability as a solo instrument.
Simmons handled the challenges of the score with aplomb, finesse, and artistry. Bellincampi and Simmons' colleagues were with him for every note.
Finally, the Strauss, a tone poem based on a heavy German philosophical treatise by Friedrich Nietzsche - it includes the message "God is dead" - offered an antidote to the message by way of Romantic composition at its best.
The famed opening triad announced by the trumpets and answered with brief angular string statements, really gives no clue to the tone poem ahead. Constructed in eight segments but performed as a single work with no apparent breaks, it's Strauss at his most innovative and irresistible.
There are quotes from other works; luscious solos for violin, viola, cello, double bass, and winds; punctuation from the trumpets and horns, and occasional comments by the Peristyle organ, played capably by Dennis Blubaugh.
Again, Bellincampi was the wizard pulling forth musical magic from this talented orchestra.
This concert will repeat at 8 tonight and a Family Classics performance of the Barber and Strauss will begin at 3 p.m. tomorrow in the Peristyle. Tickets are available from 419-246-8000 or www.toledosymphony.com.
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Contact Sally Vallongo at: svallongo@theblade.com.
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