University of Virginia Library

MUSIC

Intercollegiate Orchestra Debuts;
Dvorak's 8th Highlights Afternoon

By Teri Towe
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

The Virginia Intercollegiate
Orchestra, which is made up of
some of the finest student
musicians in the state, as well as a
handful of adults and faculty
members, gave a concert in Cabell
Hall Auditorium on Sunday
afternoon, under the direction of
Donald W. Grisier of V.P.I., and
Joel Lazar, the conductor of the
University and Community
Orchestra and of the Concert Band.

Mr. Grisler conducted the first
half of the concert, in which only
the string instrumentalists of the
orchestra participated. The program
opened with the Concerto Grosso
in D Minor, Op. 3, No. 11, from
L'Estro Armonica, by Antonio
Vivaldi. This work, which its
composer intended for a handful of
string instrumentalists, was played
by the entire string section, a group
of nearly 50 musicians.

Mr. Grisler's conception of
Vivaldi's concerto is highly
Romantic and emotional, and
throughout the lush tutti passages
which effectively swamped the
concertino of two violins and cello,
the Wagnerian dynamic
fluctuations, and the frequent
retards, some of which were
amazingly extreme, I could not
help but think of the marvelous and
delightful, if a touch bloated,
nineteenth century style
performances of Bach and Vivaldi
by Willem Mengelberg, Sir Henry
Wood, and Serge Doussevitsky,
whose performances I know and
love so well through their 78 RPM
disks.

Sensitive Interpretation

The second selection, "The
Shepherd Boy" from Edvard
Grieg's Lyric Suite, was more suited
to Mr. Grisler's "heart on the
sleeve" approach to music, and he
led the orchestra's strings in a
sensitive interpretation of it.

The second half of the concert
was the high point of the
afternoon. Mr. Lazar conducted the
full orchestra in a taut, incisive, and
well paced reading of Antonin
Dvorak's Symphony No. 8 in G
Major, op. 88. The work, while
highly nationalistic in character
because of the extensive use of
Czech folk themes, is squarely
within the tradition of Beethoven
and Brahms, and Mr. Lazar's
no-nonsense approach to the score
fitted the spirit of the music
perfectly. Particularly impressive
were the brass and woodwind
instrumentalist, whose task in the
Dvorak 8th is a far from simple
one.

Annual Performances

The Virginia Intercollegiate
Orchestra is a new idea, and I, for
one, hope that their Charlottesville
performances will become an
annual affair.