Cleveland Pops offers smooches galore at Severance Hall
Saturday February 14, 2009, 11:29 AM
REVIEW
Cleveland
Pops Orchestra
The
kisses were nice. (When are they not?) In this case, we're talking
chocolate kisses, which audience members received Friday as they left
Severance Hall.
Weren't
these sweet morsels a wee bit redundant? After all, the Cleveland Pops
Orchestra and conductor Carl Topilow had just spent more than two
hours making musical love to a sizable crowd.
The
evening was "An Old-Fashioned Valentine," an apt title for
an overstuffed program of stage and screen favorites rounded out by a
handful of new pieces. Topilow's dry wit, red clarinet and instinctive
musicianship, not to mention his ensemble's sonorous expertise,
ensured that the night's fare would fill the hall with merriment and
warmth.
Most
of the audience - including a fellow across the main-floor aisle who
shot photos with a lens more appropriate for the Grand Canyon -
probably could hum or sing the night's selections minus subtitles,
lyric sheets, whatever. The Broadway and
Hollywood
tunes were products of such composers as
Arlen
,
Berlin
, Bernstein, Gershwin, Lerner, Lloyd Webber, Menken and Porter.
Topilow
invited two grown-ups, soprano Margo Watson and baritone Michael
Lackey, to warble the bulk of these songs in winning fashion. The
conductor also introduced a tiny vocal dynamo, seven-year-old Isabela
Moner, who performed "Over the Rainbow" and
"Tomorrow" in clear, clarion tones, as if she were poised
for diva-dom.
Watson
and Lackey weren't exactly overshadowed by Little Miss Moner. They
made an amusing team in "Anything You Can Do" and extracted
all of the soaring wonder from "How Could I Ever Know" (from
"The Secret Garden"). Lackey, a veteran phantom of that
mega-buck opera, gave forceful voice to "Music of the
Night," while Watson was an enchanting Eliza in "I Could
Have Danced All Night."
Speaking
of dance, Brooke Wesner and Brian Murphy somehow managed to make
optimum use of the small strip of space in front of the orchestra as
they elegantly tripped the light fantastic in excerpts from "An
American in Paris," Gershwin's Lullaby and Zequinha de Abreu's
"Tico-Tico no Fuba" (led with fine sizzle by assistant
conductor Marcelo Ramos).
Several
members of the Pops had moments in the limelight. Trumpeter Jack
Schantz was the suave, whisky-toned soloist in "Misty." Paul
Ferguson, the ensemble's principal trombone, composed "Alto
Amore" for his wife, principal flute Mary Kay Ferguson, who
performed the alluring bossa nova on alto flute.
And -
fanfare - this most old-fashioned of programs included two
(old-fashioned) world premieres by Peter Nostrand, a retired
Cleveland-born banker. Topilow and the orchestra played the composer's
"Only One," a romantic ballad, and tender "Last
Waltz" as if they were the most luscious music of the night. They
were almost as yummy as those farewell chocolate kisses.
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