Word: swoboda
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...Fournier never missed. Up high, his nearly faultless harmonics combined with the violins and bells to produce one of the delightful, but inconsequential, aural tricks in which the concerto abounded. His extended cadenza in the third movement lacked raw strength, but it was exquisite. Why he or conductor Henry Swoboda put their talents and the HRO's into this concerto is hard to understand...
Under the baton of Dr. Henry Swoboda, the orchestra will present the first New England performance of Dr. Piston's Symphonic Prelude. It will also give the New England premiere of Prokoflev's Romeo and Juliet Suite No. 3, honoring the composer on the tenth anniversary of his death. The concert will end with Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 in E-flat, the "Eroica...
Miss Karen Monson '66 played the Poem with a sweet, singing tone that remained clear, and carried through Sanders, even in the low registers of the flute. Here technique never faltered; the balance Swoboda maintained between her and the orchestra never wavered. In fact, her performance was too constant: Miss Monson never varied her tone quality or volume. By the end of the Poem, I wished for some slight distortion that would reveal excitement, some subtlety to tell of understanding...
...last half of the program, Swoboda finally roused the orchestra to enthusiasm with some music that was genuine for its own day, and hence is genuine now: Dvorak's Symphony No. 8 (formerly No. 4) in G major, Op. 88. Here Swoboda seemed to be a free man on home territory, and he was exciting to watch and hear. In the waltz of the third movement, he and the orchestra were all grace; in the final movement he shifted tempo and mood expertly. Here, safe in romanticism, the orchestra came alive...
...past, the HRO has seemed willing to trade fewer professional performances like Friday's Dvorak for more real musical adventure than it has this year. One cannot say whether the reluctance to barter this year rests with Swoboda or the members of the orchestra, but one can hope that next year, Swoboda, having consolidated a fine orchestra, will lead it on to modern works that deserve its talents...