Strings shine at BSO concert

If Werner Torkanowsky’s tenure as conductor of the Bangor Symphony is remembered for one thing, it will be his development of the strings into a con-fident and connected ensemble.

This was clearly evident in the Vivaldi Concerto for Two Violins in D-Minor which opened Friday evening’s concert at the Maine Center for the Performing Arts.

With Concertmistress Estelle Holly and Torkanowsky as soloists, the BSO strings performed the Vivaldi sans conductor, except for occasional head cues from Torkanowsky, in a relaxed but cohesive style. Holly and Torkanowsky chose to play seated in the string section rather than standing, which lent a special intimacy to the performance. Mrs. Holly contributed some lovely playing in the largo section, while George Sopkin was in excellent form for the solo cello passages. The BSO is fortunate to have principal string players whose confident, quiet leadership is invaluable to their sections.

Following the Vivaldi, Torkanowsky’s intriguing Divertimento for Piano and Strings revealed the composer’s eclectic appreciation of musical forms ranging from baroque to ragtime to jazz. Melding passages of Vivaldi with a boogie beat and an entire section devoted to variations on Joplin’s “The Entertainer,” the Divertimento evoked the evolution of jazz from its strict meter roots to its modern improvisational concept.

The six-piece ensemble performed well as a whole, but it was pianist Frank Glazer who impressed, with his broad range of technique and meticulous observance of dynamic proprieties. Never too assertive, Glazer infused his solo segments with great spontaneity and then blended back within the group with ease.

If the players wondered what caused a ripple of laughter after the second movement, which begins and ends rather mysteriously, it was a plaintive child’s voice asking: “Are they done yet?”

After the premature applause following the first movement, this was a delightful distraction.

There were lots of kids in the audience, awaiting Tim Sample’s Down East interpretation of Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf,” renamed “Hubert and the Wolf” by Sample. The locale of the events of this delightful children’s tale was also changed, from Russia to somewhere near Rumford, Maine.

The one exception one might take to this adaptation is the omission of the traditional introduction of the different instruments that represent the story’s characters. After all, Prokofiev intended his work to familiarize children with the orchestra’s instruments. And Sample might want to consider shortening a few of his narrative segments in order to preserve the musical continuity of the piece. But the audience enjoyed his performance, especially the parts that described Hubert’s ensnaring of the wolf with duct tape, and the group of “Massachusetts hunters who kept shootin’ their guns off every few seconds.”

Sample is a strong talent and a durable performer who may have created a classic from a classic. In future performances of “Hubert and the Wolf,” he should work closer to the mike to avoid having some of his lines covered by the orchestra.

Concluding the concert, Frank Glazer rejoined the orchestra for George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” As familiar as this piece is, most of us never tire of hearing it, and Glazer gave it one of the best performances I’ve heard. At times his playing reminds me of the late Julius Katchen, regarded by many as one of the great pianists of the century.

The opening clarinet passage, however, was too fast for my taste, as were the muted trumpet and trombone blues statements, and some of the orchestral tutti passages. Glazer was playing with great feeling, while Torkanowsky seemed to be in a hurry, denying the piece some of its seductive warmth. That the orchestra coped so well with such rapid tempos is to their credit, but I prefer a more rubato approach to certain sections than the maestro chose.

As the Bangor Symphony continues to mature and improve, there should be more concerts of lighter music to attract a wider audience who don’t attend the more heavily classical programs. Such programming must never be assigned a low priority, because it can bring the most sublime of all the arts to many who would otherwise miss the pleasure of hearing this fine orchestra.