‘70 Years of Virtuosity’ begins in Everett

Published 1:33 pm Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Everett Symphony Orchestra is going to rock the house tonight.

From Aaron Copeland’s stirring “Fanfare for the Common Man” to Beethoven’s emotionally charged “Symphony No. 5,” conductor Paul-Elliott Cobbs is promising that Everett Symphony’s opening night performance will have the energy of a rock concert.

“There will be a pulsating energy that just won’t let you be … people will be on their feet,” Cobbs said. “All three pieces, they will just grab the audience and keep them engaged the entire time.”

In addition to the Copeland and Beethoven, the symphony also will perform “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini,” by Sergei Rachmaninoff, one of his most romantic symphonies.

This concert at Everett Civic Auditorium marks the beginning of the symphony’s 70th season, which they’ve dubbed “70 Years of Virtuosity.” The pieces Cobbs has selected to open the season reflect that theme, especially Beethoven’s Fifth.

As Cobbs explained it, Beethoven knew he was going deaf and became depressed and close to suicidal before he wrote the Fifth. But he decided to fight instead of give up, challenging himself to write the best piece of his career.

The Fifth was more than that. It was groundbreaking because instead of the first movement being the big number, Beethoven wrote the Fifth as a crescendo that leads up to an incredible climax at the fourth movement.

“It’s one of the most forward-moving pieces and the first of its kind,” Cobbs said. “It’s a gigantic crescendo from beginning to end. It’s a life-changing symphony and music has never been the same since. It shocked everybody and from then on Beethoven was in a class by himself.”

So, if the Everett Symphony had to pick one piece of music to define its last 70 years, it is the Fifth, Cobbs said.

“It’s forward moving and it’s intense and it takes a real strong orchestra to do it,” he said. “You can’t be passive. You can’t just come in and play it. You have to do it with all your intensity and emotions.

“It’s a concert that shows virtuosity.”

The symphony specially selected Copeland’s recognizable “Fanfare” after a long-time patron told Cobbs she wanted to hear it for her 80th birthday. And speaking of rock concerts, Copeland’s “Fanfare” gained fame again in 1977 when it became one of Emerson, Lake &Palmer’s biggest hits after the piece appeared on the album “Works Volume I.”

“It’s what the Everett Symphony is all about and celebrates the years of dedication that our listeners have had,” Cobbs said.

The Rachmanonoff was one of the composer’s final pieces, the culmination of a master whose goal was to build on a theme. He surpassed that goal in spades, creating almost 30 variations on a single theme.

Everett Symphony has invited guest pianist Duane Hulbert, distinguished professor at the University of Puget Sound School of Music, to perform the Rachmaninoff. Hulbert said many of the piece’s variations “are fast, brilliant and show off the solo pianist’s and the orchestra’s virtuosity.”

The most famous melody occurs in the 18th variation, during which the orchestra joins the piano in one of the most romantic themes ever written. So romantic, in fact, that it’s a famous theme in several films, Hulbert said, including “The Story of Three Loves,” “Rhapsody,” “Somewhere in Time” and “Sabrina.”

Cobbs said this first concert of the symphony’s 70th year “sets the tone for the rest of the season and this is good way to start.”

Reporter Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424 or goffredo@heraldnet.com.