The Anchorage Civic Orchestra drew a decent-sized crowd to the Sydney Laurence Theatre for its Friday concert and, happily, sounded as good as I've ever heard them to be. Possibly better.
Tammy Vollom-Matturo, who has been part of the Kenai Peninsula music scene for 25 years and director of the Kenai Peninsula Orchestra since 2009, had the podium as a guest artist. She showed herself to be a highly competent conductor and a master of economic gestures. She maintained a crisp beat with the baton in her right hand and reserved the left for when needed to cue, caution or emphasize. The players followed her precisely through tricky rhythmic passages, and in two potboilers, "Finlandia" by Sibelius and the "Bacchanale" from Saint-Saens' opera "Samson et Delila," they matched or even surpassed recent performances from the bigger Anchorage Symphony. But the ACO was itself bigger than it's been in many previous concerts. The all-important string section was augmented by several players from the UAA Sinfonia, which helped boost the sound level and add cohesion to the ensemble.
The evening opened with music from the movie "Munich" by John Williams in a score titled "Prayer for Peace," a lush and pleasant number mainly of interest because of the fine solo playing from concertmaster Lee Wilkins and principal cellist Elizabeth Knapp.
Guitarist Armin Abdihodzic was outstanding in Joaquin Rodrigo's much-heard "Concierto de Aranjuez." Though the big orchestra -- which maybe should have been pared down a little for this number -- buried a few notes, despite the use of a microphone, most of the solo part came through clearly. In the cadenza of the slow movement, where one hears many of the most virtuoso-level effects in the concerto, Abdihodzic was impressive both for his technique and for his poignant sensitivity. Aside from the brass (which sounded much better in "Finlandia") the orchestra was on target from start to finish, negotiating the Andalusian beats accurately. The winds deserved their own round of applause, and got it at the conclusion of the piece.
I cocked an eyebrow when told that the ACO was going to attempt Henryk Gorecki's slow, minimalist and, some would say, turgid Third Symphony. Though it's sold a lot of recordings, it's the type of piece during which a live audience is more likely to shuffle their feet than tap their toes. In fact, during parts of the two movements presented on Friday, some of the players had an expression that suggested, "Why are we playing the same chord for a minute or more?"
But they didn't get distracted or lost and the reading came off effectively, due in great part to soprano Mari Hahn. In the second movement, her higher register shined over Gorecki's somber orchestration like a light through a dark night. She poured her heart and voice into the finale and, while I doubt three people in the crowd knew enough Polish to follow the lyrics, Hahn conveyed their sadness and profundity with compelling conviction. The recordings can be beautiful, but I'm honestly inclined to do the dishes when "The Symphony of Sorrowful Songs" is playing. The ACO's performance was grittier -- aside from Hahn's silken soprano -- but more real and immediate and I found myself liking it a lot more.