By Arlene McKanic
The pieces were short and stirring, beginning with Antonio Vivaldi's “Winter,” one of his four violin concertos that make up The Four Seasons. The first movement, allegro non molto, a musical description of icy winds and freezing snows, had a certain suspenseful quality to it, almost like a benevolent version of the theme to the movie “Psycho.”
The largo, which describes an evening by a cozy fireside, was appropriately mellow and the allegro, about the dangers and pleasures of walking on thin ice and the ultimate joy of winter, was energetic.
Then, the audience was encouraged to “Meet the Composers” through ” the magic of the Children's Orchestra Society Time Machine,” which looked strangely like musician David Dodds' cell phone.
In this little comedy violinist Alex Sovronsky is suddenly told he has to write a paper about Tchaikovsky. Using the time machine, he and Dave are whisked back to Cambridge of the 1890s where Tchaikovsky and Camille Saint-Saens, played by Bob Ader and Ivan Mann, are happily hanging out.
The atmosphere of the evening was very family, with the standing-room-only crowd of parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles wielding cameras and camcorders and waving to the performers.
The joy of the musicians was infectious – since they couldn't very well applaud themselves, they stomped their feet in moments of high emotion. People who couldn't find seats happily hunkered down on the carpeted steps of the aisles, including Levinson's wife and their son, Matthew. It was Matthew's third birthday and the orchestra struck up an impromptu “Happy Birthday.” The pre-schooler seemed a bit dazzled by it all.
The orchestra also offered Saint-Saens' “Havanise” in E major for violin and orchestra, opus 83, which had a sad but tropical flavor to it, remarkable considering that Saint-Saens never visited Cuba and there was no such thing as CNN in 1888.
The orchestra played with definite elegance and seriousness, but you could tell that the kids, the girls in sophisticated black dresses and the boys in black tie and tuxes, were having fun.
Tchaikovsky's Valse-Scherzo for Violin and Orchestra in C Major, Op. 34 is a piece of fluff written for a man with whom Peter had, as they say in the program, “an intense personal relationship,” (it is a children's orchestra, after all). The piece was played with great verve and was followed by a short and nicely performed melody created by the great Russian composer.
After an intermission the orchestra resumed with Dvorak's Czech Suite. Op. 39, written during a flush of Czech nationalistic fervor. Dvorak had managed to work three Czech dances into the five movements.
Levinson absented himself for this one and the orchestra played this beautiful piece boldly and with flashes of real brilliance. The difficult sections were negotiated, especially by the woodwinds, with confidence and maturity. It is no small thing to say the performance did what it was supposed to do, which was to transform the listener to the streets of Prague or the banks of the river.
The Children's Orchestra Society, founded in 1962 by Dr. M.T. Ma, is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to teaching classical music to children and teenagers, and presenting them in orchestra and chamber music concerts with their peers and established musicians.
The evening's performance was presented by the Flushing Council on Culture and Arts and Con Edison.
