NEW CASTLE Severinson, orchestra make trip worth it

The former 'Tonight Show' band director used the orchestra well.
By JEROME K. STEPHENS
VINDICATOR CORRESPNDENT
Heeeeere's Doc! Doc Severinsen, that is, whom many remember as the director of the band on "The Tonight Show." They may also remember the flamboyant suits he wore, seemingly never wearing the same one twice.
It was a running gag on the show, and Wednesday, conducting the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in their role as the Pittsburgh Pops at New Castle's Scottish Rite Cathedral, Severinsen did not disappoint. The suits were eye-burners.
Yet the man inside those suits is a superb and versatile musician, as was amply demonstrated in the program of Italian music he conducted and played that night. During his tenure on "The Tonight Show," it was seldom that one had more than hints of his ability as a top-ranked trumpet player.
Among the pieces where he played solo trumpet, there was a set of variations on "Finiculi, Finicula," as it is known to most, and a jazz arrangement of "Oue Marie." It was obvious from these that his lip and tongue were as flexible as ever.
Joining in
Nor was he alone. In addition to his marvelous trumpet virtuosity, there was some great singing by Joe Wolverton, a young tenor from Chicago. There also was Joe Vito, another musician from Chicago, who played the accordion in several numbers. Vito is very accomplished. It is too bad that he didn't have a spot in the program where he could have played either solo or with a small ensemble.
Tenor Joe Wolverton is very talented, with a sure sense of pitch and of dynamics. His diction is also quite good, and, from what was heard Wednesday, he could also sing rapid-fire patter songs. Most of what he sang were the show pieces one expects in a pops concert, such as Rossini's "La Danza" and Brodsky's "Be My Love."
He also sang opera arias "Vesti La Giubba" from Leoncavello's "I Pagliacci" and "La Donna e Mobile" form Verdi's "Rigoletto." It was in the encore, though, that his ability was truly noticeable. This was Calif's third act aria from Puccini's "Turandot."
Praise for orchestra
There was a fourth part of the evening's entertainment, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Without those musicians, none of the above could have been done.
In all too many of the pops concerts I have attended, the principle guests have had no real sense of how to use the orchestra.
Also, even when they do, they leave the conducting of the concert selections to the resident conductor. That was not so Wednesday. Except when he was playing as the principle trumpet soloist, Severinsen did the conducting, and he knew very well how to use the orchestra.
In keeping with the Italian theme of the evening, the concert numbers done by the orchestra were either by an Italian composer or had an Italian base. These were Berlioz's "Roman Carnival Overture," the fourth movement from Mendelssohn's "Italian Symphony" and Verdi's overture to "La Forza Del Destino."
It was worth traveling to Pittsburgh to hear this orchestra, and worth going to hear the orchestra with Severinsen.