GAMBIER — The Knox County Symphony held its winter concert Saturday evening at Rosse Hall on the Kenyon College Campus. The program featured two orchestral pieces,”Mars, the Bringer of War” from “The Planets” by Gustav Holst, and “Russian Sailors Dance,” by Reinhold Gliére.
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The program featured the winners of the Young Musicians Competition: Alex Hettinga and Lauren Shriver at the high school level; and Sean Michael Hoffman, Peter Blankenship and Lauren Hauser at the collegiate level.
Neither the symphony nor the soloists disappointed those in Rosse Hall who braved frigid weather to attend.
The symphony, conducted by Dr. Benjamin Locke, handled the two pieces with the professionalism regular concertgoers have come to expect. The orchestra is all-local and all-volunteer with limited rehersal time, usually about four hours a week for two or three weeks prior to the concert.
None of this, however, keeps the orchestra from performing challenging pieces with concerts rivaling those of professional orchastras.
Science fiction buffs would recognize “Mar, Bringer of War,” as John Williams, composer of music for “Star Wars,” used variations of the piece for much of that movie’s score. The piece immediately sets up a feeling of tension with a repeating 5/4 time pattern of a single notes on the strings.
The generous use of brass instruments amplifies the militaristic tone, using high trumpet fanfares rising above exclamations from the lower brass. At the end, the piece dissolves into a tumult of brass and percussion playing blunt, dissonant chunks of sound counterpointed by strings.
“Russian Sailor’s Dance” is from Gliere’s opera “The Red Poppy,” and is probably his most popular piece. “The Red Poppy” takes place during the Russian Revolution in 1917. It is the story of a chinese dancer who falls in love with the captain of a Russian cargo ship calling at a Chinese port.
The dance begins with a fast and heavily accented introduction. It is syncopated, and played forte by the bassoons, French horns, tuba and strings. The notes climb higher and higher as the music builds to a fortissimo chord, making way for the rest of the piece.
The soloists were all excellent. The three singers, sopranos Lauren Shriver, high school division; Lauren Hauser, collegiate division; and baritone Sean Michael Hoffman were all in good voice and showed good range in the pieces they performed. Peter Blankenship on horn also performed at a professional level. But perhaps the best performance of the evening was Alex Hettinga on violin. Remember this name, it could be a household word someday, as the saying goes.
Hettinga, who took first place in the high school division, is a home schooled sophomore from Utica, and has been playing the violin since he was 4 years old. His performance of Max Bruch’s “Violin concerto No. 1 in G minor, op 26: Prelude” was exquisite. Just listening to his playing and not looking at his youthful face would lead one to think it was some one in his 30s. This young man should go far in the music world.
The final performance of the season will be the symphony’s spring concert in April. For more information contact Sarah Goslee Reed at 392-4955.
