REVIEW Symphony orchestra resonates with crowd

The music included songs from motion pictures.
By JERRY STEPHENS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
GREENVILLE, Pa. -- A man of many hats. That describes Maestro Michael Gelfand. In addition to the hats he wears as a very talented cellist, professor, and conductor of the Greenville Symphony Orchestra, he also was seen Saturday in a pirate's hat, a wizard's hat, and the hat of a bandmaster. This last was when he conducted "76 Trombones" as an encore to an evening of very fine music.
In the two full seasons that he has directed the Greenville Symphony, Gelfand has brought the orchestra close to the highest level that a community orchestra, which is made up of local talent, can reach. It was a pleasure to hear them.
Since this is a community orchestra, the program chosen was a series of short compositions of the type that would please everyone in the audience. In addition to those short works, the orchestra presented single movements of major compositions.
One of these was the first movement of the "Piano Concerto No. 1" by Edvard Grieg. This concerto was quite popular in the middle of the previous century, possibly from the association with the movie "Song of Norway."
Soloist
The piano soloist was a local talent, Matthew McWright, a very talented young man who is beginning to make a name for himself. His style was authoritative, with a good range of motion. The piano was a Baldwin, the moderately battered case of which belied the very crisp and rich sound that was attained under the talented fingers of the soloist. He needs some seasoning, and some master class work, but McWright has great potential.
The other major work sample was the final movement of the "Symphony No. 5" by Dimitri Shostakovich. This is not the most difficult movement in the symphony, that being the slow movement, but it is plenty difficult enough. The orchestra played it very well with plenty of enthusiasm.
This is not to say that the rest of the program was overshadowed by those discussed above. The whole concert was excellent. There were included three examples of music written for motion pictures, all of which showed that this music needs to be taken more seriously than they have been in the past.
Medley
One was a medley of music from "Pirates of the Caribbean," composed by Klaus Badelt. This is when Maestro Gelfand wore his pirate's hat. He wore the wizard's hat when he conducted John Williams "Harry Potter Symphonic Suite." The third was a suite from "Lord of the Rings," composed by Howard Shore.
Two standard concert items rounded out the program. One was a selection from the American composer George Chadwick's "Symphonis Sketches," "Hobgoblin," which was inspired by Shakespeare's character Robin Good-fellow in "Midsummer Night's Dream." Second was the very well-known "In the Hall of the Mountain King," from Edvard Grieg's "Peer Gynt Suite No. 1." This last was a part of the incidental music from Ibsen's allegorical satire "Peer Gynt." In this, the Troll King's courtiers sing their rage at Peer Gynt's deception of the Troll King's daughter.
Greenville can take great pride in this institution.