Everett Symphony’s concert soars

Published 9:00 pm Monday, May 1, 2006

EVERETT – The Everett Civic Auditorium stirred to attention Friday evening as the Everett Symphony performed a prelude to their concert with Paul Dukas’ “Fanfare from La Peri.” This fanfare gave a modern twist to those of the Baroque era, but it shared the same shimmering clarity of brass.

The “Fanfare,” performed without music director Paul-Elliott Cobbs on the podium, provided a nice buildup of anticipation and excitement for the pieces to come.

The evening’s program paired the work of Samuel Barber (1910-1981) and Johannes Brahms (1833-1897). Maestro Cobbs explained the connection drawn between the two composers.

“They’re both very lyrical. And they’re both good craftsmen,” he said. “They both intersperse throughout their compositions bits and pieces of a motif.”

Barber’s “Overture to School for Scandal” opened on a discordant note that was followed with strong performances by oboe, bells and clarinet. Cobbs’ conducting provided a crisp attack on the tension-filled piece, which often sounded like it would provide a rich soundtrack for a cinematic mystery.

The guest artist of the evening, violinist Karen Johnson, performed with the orchestra on Barber’s “Concerto for Violin, Op. No. 14.” The Juilliard graduate, who also served as concertmaster for the school’s orchestras and currently is the concertmaster of the Richmond, Va., Symphony, executed a vibrant vibrato and flawless scales throughout the concerto.

After the first movement, which hovered between major and minor key, never committing fully to either one, the ever-attentive Cobbs led the transition into the second movement, with its great dialogue between orchestra and soloist. Here, Johnson’s performance was marked by her exquisite attention to a high note.

The work was infused with Barber’s signature sound of sorrow that is nonetheless questing and hopeful. The second movement gave the suggestion of someone lost, yet ever meditative. The end of the second movement suggested someone coming out of a fog, looking up and out. Johnson’s emotional interpretation here was brilliant.

The scherzo-infused rhythm of the third movement, while very difficult, was very well performed by the orchestra. Here, a percussive shudder sounded like fairies leading an exodus, and was followed by a relentless up-tempo bleating.

The second half of the program was taken up with Brahms Symphony No. 2 in D. The Everett Symphony recaptured full energy in the “presto” of the finale.

Of the Brahms symphony, Cobbs noted how one movement is angry and “in your face,” whereas in the next, the composer has relaxed a bit.

Brahms, Cobbs said, “took 25 years and wrote for himself. He lived out in the country, writing one beautiful melody after another, all well crafted.”