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The Champaign-Urbana Symphony is back, after 554 days since its last pre-COVID-19 concert. This number was mentioned by conductor Stephen Alltop, and I’m sure it had counted, just as orchestral musicians and audiences looked at the calendar and waited for concert life to resume.
This CU Symphony’s first live concert was played Sunday at Heritage Hall at the I Hotel and Conference Center, south of the University of Illinois campus. The title was “Favorite On Stage and On Screen” and the selections ranged from Richard Wagner to John Williams.
Heritage Hall is quite wide and the orchestra was playing against one of the long walls. The sound of the room was more subdued and less bright and resonant than the Foellinger Great Hall at the Krannert Center.
The concert began with a medley of “The Sound of Music” (Richard Rodgers, music, Oscar Hammerstein II, lyrics). A powerful cadence at the end of “Do-Re-Me” prompted the enthusiastic audience to cheer, prompting Alltop to turn around and say, “There’s more.” “More” included the resounding melody of “Climb Ev’ry Mountain”.
Other Broadway and Hollywood music came from “Fiddler on the Roof” (Jerry Bock, music, Sheldon Harnick, lyrics), and that famous Tevya tune on his roof was played well by solo violin Maria Arrua. .
Richard Wagner’s thunderous “Ride of the Valkyries” from his opera “The Valkyrie” derives its screen credit from being played from loudspeakers mounted on American helicopters attacking a North Vietman village in the Francis Ford Coppola’s film “Apocalypse Now”, a version of Joseph Conrad’s famous short story “In the heart of darkness”. Alltop led an exciting performance. All that was missing was a Wotan helmet for Alltop (see below).
The Overture to Leonard Bernstein’s famous “West Side Story” was a collective performance. All spectators, young and old, were trained by Alltop to shout “Mambo! ”In the corresponding section. Our first “Mambo” was weak, but after a pep talk, our shouted “Mambo! »Showed improvement. In actual performance, our “Mambo! Were, in my opinion, excellent. In the wonderful melody of “Somewhere”, the strings of the symphony produced one of the emotional highlights of the concert.
After a few beautiful strings played in Pietro Mascagni’s “Intermezzo” in his hit opera “Cavalleria Rusticana”, we arrived at the longest work on the program, a suite of pieces from John Williams’ music for “Star Wars” . Alltop doesn’t lack showbiz instincts, and it was no surprise to see him come out wearing a Darth Vader mask, and instead of a staff, waving a lightsaber while leading “The Imperial March”. Later, “Princess Leia’s Theme” featured the beautiful flutist Mary Leathers Chapman and horn player Stephan Burian.
That left John Phillip Sousa’s most famous march, “Stars and Stripes Forever”, to cap off this happy concert. At the annual holiday concert in Krannert, it is traditional for Alltop to be kicked off the podium by Santa Claus and tricked into conducting “Jingle Bells”. During this concert, Alltop voluntarily handed over the baton to a young person drawn by lot from among the children who came to attend this concert.
The winner was Tara Krumwiede, daughter of Elissa and Derek Krumwiede from Cissna Park, where Tara is now in sixth grade. After Alltop’s very quick course in conducting, Tara did an admirable job keeping the proper pace in this famous march, and the friendly audience warmly applauded her.
In the iconic section of the trio, piccolo players Mary Leathers Chapman, Amanda Pond and Ellen Elrick stood up and then were asked to bow solo for their playful game. All the brass also collectively saluted their resounding efforts.
The next CU Symphony concert, titled “Baroque Brilliance,” is scheduled for November 6 at Faith United Methodist Church in Champaign. For the holiday concert of the symphony, scheduled for December 9, the ensemble will be back in the friendly grounds of the Foellinger Great Hall.
John Frayne presents “The Classics of
Phonographer ”on Saturdays at WILL-FM and, retired, teaches at UI. He can be contacted at [email protected].
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