Vt. Philharmonic Brings
‘Sound Spectacular’ Here

Soprano Marjorie Drysdale of Randolph will be among the soloists at a concert by the Vermont Philharmonic Orchestra this Saturday night at Chandler Music Hall and Sunday at the Barre Opera House.

In the middle of a rehearsal of the Vermont Philharmonic Orchestra last week, conductor Lou Kosma called the soprano soloist, Randolph’s Marjorie Drysdale, to stand beside him at the podium.

"I want you to hear why I drive 320 miles to do this," explained Kosma, who commutes to Vermont from his regular job with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York.

Then the conductor, soloist, and the orchestra itself was flooded with the luscious orchestral strains of one of the "Enigma Variations" by Edward Elgar.

"That was terrific," Kosma told the orchestra.

It’s the "Nimrod" variation, Kosma explained last week in a Herald interview, about which any musician will say "It’s my favorite."

"Its just very beautiful," he said "and the orchestra does it beautifully."

Audiences in Randolph and Barre will get to hear the Nimrod variation and a whole program of "Sound Spectaculars" this weekend when the Vermont Philharmonic, 65 players strong, presents its 2007 spring concert series, showcasing some of Vermont’s finest vocal and instrumental performers.

The orchestra will present two shows, this Saturday evening June 2 at 7:30 p.m. at Chandler Music Hall in Randolph, and on Sunday evening June 3, at 7:30 at the Barre Opera House.

Kosma will be a pre-concert discussion beginning at 7:10 p.m. each evening. The conductor’s talks have become a popular part of the orchestra’s programming.

The Vermont Philharmonic under Kosma offers the full orchestral experience to Vermont audiences. Randolph area people will see several familiar faces in the orchestra, as well as Drysdale as a soprano soloist in the spectacular final trio and duet from the Strauss opera, "Der Rosenkavalier."

"If there was ever a piece I wanted to do, it was that one," Kosma explained with enthusiasm. The dramatic trio is a showcase for all three singers, as the orchestra contributes passion of its own.

Sensuous, Too

Kosma pointed out that though the title of the program is called "Sound Spectaculars," that doesn’t mean that everything will be loud and bombastic.

"I think ‘spectacular’ can also be soft, sentimental, and sensual," he said. "And there will be some interesting novelty pieces. This concert is going to have everything."

An example of the latter, he said will be "Battalia" by Heinrich Biber. It’s a piece written in the 1670s that sounds like 20th century music, he said, including one movement in which "eight tunes are going on at once."

The composer’s message, he speculated, is that "in a battle, the individual is lost."

The program also includes two movements from the "Firebird Suite" by Igor Stravinsky and the "Mars" section of Holst’s popular "The Planets," a movement Kosma called "driving and menacing."

The grand finale will be Tschaikowsky’s "Marche Slav," music which was so powerful that the Communist government of Russia cut one tune out of it because it poignantly recalled pre-Marxist folk music.

Kosma hopes that people will turn out to support Vermont’s volunteer orchestra in both concerts.

"It’s not a long concert," he said, "But it’s chock-full of beautiful sounds."