Saturday night's Anchorage Symphony Orchestra program bordered on a pops concert, but came off as well-prepared. Even the opening piece -- too often a tossed-out filler -- sounded as if it had received adequate rehearsal. The piece in question, the Overture to Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni," also benefited from a full string section, by which I mean fuller than some of the bare-bones "authentic" 18th century offerings we've heard. I counted 18 violins, which gave some weight to the work.
The Harlem Quartet -- violinists Ilmar Gavilan and Melissa White, violist Juan-Miguel Hernandez and cellist Desmond Neysmith -- featured in the next two pieces. Michael Abels' "Delights and Dances," in which the quartet was accompanied by a string orchestra, opened with a melancholy cello solo. One by one the other solo instruments entered as the orchestra put down a percussive pizzicato and, bit by bit, the tempo and rhythmic energy increased to the end. It was an elegantly proportioned work containing many appealing turns and the audience responded with enthusiasm.
A concerto by Jon Deak, a narrated tone painting of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," followed. Neysmith supplied the narration. The quartet, often "playing" characters in the story, had fun with the action, making gestures and even comments as they performed. The score -- which might benefit from some cuts -- was full of musical jokes. For instance, schoolmaster Crane was introduced with a musical reference to the pedantic but necessary piano exercises of C.L. Hanon; first time I've ever heard that in a concert hall. Also, numerous sound effects, sighs and shouts from the orchestral players, and a menagerie of percussion that included a tossed tin garbage can. First time I've seen that in a concert hall, too. The audience laughed much and, after applauding much, received "Take the A Train" as an encore.
With a dynamic range of kind of loud to really loud, Tchaikovsky's "Festival Coronation March" is a negligible, monochromatic piece that probably should have been left in the library. But the trumpets and tubas were impressive.
They were also impressive in the arrangement of dances from "West Side Story" by Leonard Bernstein. The beefed-up ensemble (piano, saxophones, more brass, more fiddles) again played quite well, but the length of the program began to tell before the end and energy waned by the climactic "Rumble" music.
If you liked the pops approach of this concert, and it sounded as if many in Atwood Hall on Saturday did, next season will bring more. Conductor and music director Randall Craig Fleischer is scheduling music by Gershwin, John Williams and a whole Beatles "tribute" program.
Find Mike Dunham online at adn.com/contact/mdunham or call 257-4332.
By MIKE DUNHAM
mdunham@adn.com