Reverie at Sanders

THE TENDENCY to perform an orchestral work as if it were simply a group of arbitrary, colorless sounds is so prevalent--particularly among non-professional orchestras--that one should be especially thankful when all the elements of dynamics, color and suggestive language mesh. The Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra's performance Saturday night, far from being methodical or colorless, succeeded in conveying all the evocative moods and imaginative instrumentation of Debussy, Saint-Saens and Dvorak.

Better coordinated and disciplined than in some of its previous concerts, the HRC played with feeling, alternating between restraint and considerable power. Conductor James Yannatos brought out the talent in the HRO, combining the roles of the individual instruments with the orchestra as a whole. The dreamy forest of Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, the lightness of Saint-Saens's Piano Concerto No. 2 and the Bohemian flavor of Dvorak's Symphony No. 8 in G were all pleasing to the ear and mind. The technical performance of the musicians--particularly Roy Kogan's solo in the Saint-Saens concerto--was also fine. The Dvorak ended the concert with confidence, power and skill.

Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun sets to music Mallarme's L'Apresmidi d'un Faune, a symbolist poem replete with a striking vagueness, fluidity and sense of reverie. A faun--half man, half goat--arises from his sleep near Mount Aetna in Italy and wanders through the woods. The whole image is one of dreamy light and dark, tentativeness and delicacy. The faun chases a group of nymphs up and down the mountain, but ultimately loses them as he once again yields to the soothing oppressiveness of sleep.

THE PRELUDE SUGGESTS this same flowing, uncertain dreaminess. Throughout the work, the HRO almost perfectly conveyed this delicacy and subjective use of different sounds. The horns evoked impressions of the tremulous colors of the forest and the unmuted strings suggested the dance of the faun. Particularly impressive were the excitement and fullness which the whole orchestra achieved as it suggested the faun's anxious chase of the nymphs. The winds, brass and violins showed just the right amount of restraint that Mallarme imparts to the faun in the poem.

A sensitive performance of the Prelude lulls listeners into the dreamy atmosphere of the mountain scene while allowing them to imagine subjectively the setting and colors they like. The orchestra achieved just this combination of seduction and suggestiveness in this moving performance.

Extensive improvisation by the pianist in any work invariably excites the audience and lets the soloist show off his virtuosity. Usually, rampant arpeggios and endless trills are well integrated into any piano piece and, in the case of a concerto, into the orchestral score. However, the pianist must also attempt to keep these improvisations in the context of the whole work rather than display them simply as a showpiece. Kogan succeeded in this regard Saturday in his performance of Saint-Saens's Second Piano Concerto. He handled the difficult solo parts of the work with consummate ease and sensitivity, and coordinated well with the orchestra to produce an exciting rendering of the concerto.

IN THE ANDANTE first movement, Kogan skillfully attended to the various tempos, moods and shifts in dynamics. He was virtually always in control, whether in the delicate upper keys or in combination with the orchestra in the more powerful lower registers. He performed the second movement with piquancy and charm.

In the Presto finale, Kogan again handled the improvisational parts and the entire movement easily and clearly, exciting the audience with a relentless, surging Tarantella. The orchestra, particularly in the expansive violin sections, played almost as well as Kogan. The orchestra as a whole was not quite as precise as Kogan, occasionally sounding muddled, but kept up the light and jovial pace and achieved an impressive, full sound almost throughout the piece, especially in the last movement.

Yannatos and the orchestra appeared best in Dvorak's Eighth Symphony, the last work of the concert. The Eighth Symphony is in many respects the equal of Dvorak's more celebrated New World Symphony, which he wrote later. It suggests the many faces of Czech culture as Dvorak saw them--pastoral joy, Bohemian calm, and general happiness--all of which are captured in the work. The orchestra handled the transitions between these moods well, and the piece had more coherence and unity than the Debussy or Saint-Saens. In the first movement, the powerful horns and cellos, the cheerful forte, and the recapitulation of the work's opening theme were all impressive. The individual instruments--the woodwinds, horns and strings--also succeeded in intimating a Bohemian ambience.

THE ALLEGRO FINAL movement sounded particularly stirring. The orchestra played the fanfare and the subdued march of the cellos with full sensitivity, and Yannatos brought out each of the separate instrumental sections as well as the Bohemian flavor with great clarity. The ending, in which the horns lead an exciting theme involving the entire orchestra, revealed the same mastery of dynamics, color and suggestive instrumentation that the orchestra showed throughout the evening and that made the concert especially enjoyable and provocative for the listener.