Maestro Tartaglione has been pushing his orchestra to tackle more and more difficult pieces (as has Dr. Schwarz for the Wilmington Community Orchestra), but this time, the Wagner Ride of the Valkyries was just too much of a challenge for the French horn section, which has worked so hard over the past few years and has had some glorious performances. But in Sunday’s concert, the Overture to Der Freischütz by Carl Maria von Weber had some horn passages which suffered from tuning issues and insecure attacks, although the orchestra in general had a steady performance with a very strong cello section and a great solo clarinet part played by Michelle Webb.
The other three Wagner preludes came off well. Laura Grass’s solo entrances on trumpet was
beautifully controlled and quite effective in the Rienzi Overture – her quiet entries and well-controlled crescendos
deserved applause - and the horns
sounded good as they did in Siegfried’s
Rhine Journey. The Meistersinger Overture was a triumph for
trumpet, horn, trombones and tuba, although the drums and percussion resound in
the hall at the Independence School, so perhaps they could have brought it down
a notch.
The concert was quite moving and having the musicians strive
for a higher level of playing has paid off in the vast improvements they have
made under Maestro Tartaglione. But
shouldn’t the director include at least one easier piece in every concert?
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