Opening number of LSO concert brings audience to life April 16, 2007 Under the baton of guest maestro Nicholas Palmer, the orchestra came alive and brought the listeners along on the merry troika ride with a brass sextet tucked away in the upper boxes of the theater. It was fitting that the podium stance of Dr. Palmer was as 'ballet-like' as the "prima danseurs" of the Russian dancers. Written in 1954 the overture is a stirring work that is often included as an opener for many orchestral concerts. It gets the blood pumping. Mr. Palmer took full charge of the instrumentalists from the get-go. His easy manner belies a musical demeanor which searches out the depths of the composer's intent and the players responded in kind. He displayed a graceful familiarity with the podium as he deftly controlled dynamics, offered careful phrasing and revealed a genuine interest in the music, the venue, the orchestra and the community of this midwestern musical mecca. This is a reflection of his own domicile as a resident of our beautiful, horse-racing neighbor to the south. When the audience was pumped up after the opening overture, we settled down to a brilliant rendition by guest clarinetist David Bellman of the W. A. Mozart's "Clarinet Concerto in A Major," the so-called "lost" concerto. Written in the last year of his life the original autograph score by the composer has long been "lost" but the present version has been gathered from fragments of publication of contemporary collaborations between printers and musicians. It is also the subject of a fascinating though fictional novel, The Mozart Forgeries by Daniel Leeson in which two con men utilize the original 18th century printing technology to 'recreate' the musical pages and offer them to the highest bidder as the 'found' original score. The golden liquid tone of Mr. Bellman is like fine champagne. He used the transcription for modern clarinet because the original was written for a specially constructed instrument that had four semi-tones added to its range. Both soloist and conductor were attuned to the dynamic nuances of the piece. The elegiac melancholy of the "adagio" second movement is perhaps reflective of the turbulent final year of Mozart's life. Attacks with the gentle feel of a caress and fortissimi that did not jar were apparent. Mr. Bellman is an Indiana resident who makes his home and his living as principal clarinetist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. The evening's finale was the "Symphony No. 8 in G Major" by Antonin Dvorak. Sometimes labeled his 4th Symphony because of irregular publishing dates, he wrote this in 1889 before his stint as director of the New American Conservatory in New York where he remained for three years. It was during this time that he "discovered" American folk music and when his "New World Symphony" was born. The "Symphony in G Major" is a work ripe with sentimentality and is mildly assertive in style. Ranging from bucolic to martial, it begins to hit its stride after the pastorale-like slow second movement. Dynamic control was the watchword here and the orchestra responded to conductor Palmer's insistence on it. The final movement displayed a "marcato" figure that urged onward toward the rousing climax both of the piece and the evening. The LSO final season's concert will be a Pops type concert under the substitute baton of Purdue University Orchestra and Department head Jay Gephart with guest trumpeter Byron Stripling. Jaeger is a retired choral music director and may be contacted by calling the Journal & Courier at 420-5226.
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