Concert Review

Standing Ovations Were Richly Deserved

Following An Outstanding Holiday Concert

By Julie Stern

This year’s annual Holiday Concert of the Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Richard E. Serbagi, was presented as a fundraiser for the School Outreach Program of the Newtown Friends of Music, which brings performers into our local schools and also arranges for students to attend the NFoM concerts, in order to develop an appreciation for classical music in the younger generation.

In return for their supporting the benefit, the Concert Society gave the enthusiastic audience a hugely enjoyable show on December 28 that lasted nearly three hours, combining an assortment of works by Handel, Mozart, Bach and Tchaikovsky, with entertaining introductions and demonstrations. In addition, in honor of her retirement, there was a well deserved tribute to Joan Popovich, the elementary school music teacher who, for 40 years had done so much to instill a love of music in Newtown’s children.

The program began with Handel’s Concerto for Two Hunting Horns, a reworking of his earlier “Water Music.”  Before the piece was played, the two horn soloists, Douglas Myers and Brad Siroky, stepped forward to give a delightful demonstration of the old fashioned instruments that were in use in Handel’s day.

After the concerto was played, using modern horns, came the formal recognition of Mrs Popovich. In her honor, the Newtown High Singers, a select a capella group, performed a medley of songs. When John Harned, their choral director, asked how many of these gifted voices got their start with Joan, many of them proudly raised their hands.

The first half of the program ended with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, featuring soloist Graciela Arguedas.  This piece was described by the composer’s father, Leopold Mozart, as being “astonishingly difficult.” In part, this was because Mozart wrote his concertos intending to play them in public, himself. Therefore, when he included sweeping cadenzas, he didn’t bother to write down the notes for them, figuring he could improvise on the spot. That was fine for him, but it left later performers with the task of figuring out exactly what his intentions were.

Ms Arguedas handled this task splendidly.

The second half of the program was largely devoted to shorter vocal works, featuring both the soprano soloist Maria Ferrante, and at the close, the Newtown High Singers.  It began with a wedding aria by Johann Sebastian Bach, and went on to feature the Andante movement, “Et Incarnatus Est” from Mozart’s Mass in C minor.

By way of a string interlude, this was followed by the Serenade for String Orchestra, Opus 48 by Tchaikovsky. Then came two final works by Handel: the “V’adoro Pupille” Largo aria from his opera Julius Caesar, and, fittingly, the Allegro “Rejoice Greatly” from The Messiah, for which Ms Ferrante and the Newtown Singers joined together in a smashing finale.

Not only was this an amazingly generous program, but it was made all the richer because of the outstanding acoustics of Trinity Church. Standing ovations were many, and definitely well deserved.