Everything In Place At Santa Rosa Symphony

Outgoing Director Takes Orchestra Through Riveting All-Russian Program

by Diane Peterson
The Press Democrat, May 15, 2006

(SANTA ROSA) - Conductor Jeffrey Kahane could have phoned in his farewell concert Saturday night with the Santa Rosa Symphony and still have gotten a standing ovation. There was that much love in the house.

But for the outgoing music director who routinely runs up the podium steps and snatches the baton, every concert program is turbo-charged with energy and excitement. His swan song in Santa Rosa was no exception.

Saturday's all-Russian program at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts was injected with particular brilliance and clarity. Rarely has the symphony played so well together and sounded so polished, from the lush strings to the sumptuous horns.

It helped that all the key players were in place, from concertmaster Joe Edelberg on down the line.

Many of these musicians have been commuting from the Bay Area to Sonoma County for more than a decade for the pleasure and privilege of playing under Kahane.

It also helped that there was a packed house, reminiscent of the days before the dot-com bust, when Kahane and the symphony were attracting full houses on a regular basis.

Led by former Santa Rosa High Choir Director Dan Earl seated in the front row, the audience greeted Kahane with a standing ovation in recognition of his contributions to the orchestra and to the community.

Then, seated in the driver's seat for one last time, Kahane took the super-sized orchestra on a rollicking ride through Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring."

During his pre-concert lecture, Kahane described Stravinsky as an "original colorist" who invented sounds as he wrote, and there's plenty of sound and fury to appreciate in "The Rite of Spring."

Underscoring the work's angular rhythms and ferocious colors, Kahane brought this atavistic ballet to life with a savage fierceness that kept audience members on the edges of their seats.

The work is a spectacle, with solos popping up in unexpected places, from the tuba to the violas. The orchestra batted around these solos like a cat playing with a ball of yarn while keeping its background rhythms expertly in the groove.

The woodwinds did an especially fine job with their solo work, offering a soothing antidote to the blaring brass and pounding percussion.

After "The Rite of Spring," the symphony settled back into the lush, Romantic melodies of Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2— the work that capped Kahane's first season with the Santa Rosa Symphony in 1996.

Conducting from his heart and mind, Kahane led the scherzo and the finale with jaunty precision, putting down his baton to conduct the luscious third movement with earnest expression.

The sprawling symphony was a bit of a letdown after the hair-raising Stravinsky, but it was a solid performance nevertheless, and its minor key hit a bittersweet note appropriate for a farewell.

The Santa Rosa Symphony will repeat the Saturday program at 8 tonight (May 15) at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa. $27-$49. 546-8742.