Review of Nov 13 JSO Concert by Andy Mead

The evening of November 13th saw the second in this year's series of Jackson Symphony Orchestra concerts, this one entitled "Not Just for Kids." The concert featured a selection of old favorites, nominally written for children, but clearly providing lots of musical interest for their elders as well. These were preceded by a suite of music from John Williams's score for the first of the Harry Potter movies.


In this, as well as in Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals, and Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, the orchestra shone with strong string playing, incisive brass, elegant woodwind solos and crisp percussion. The first-chair winds, seated out front as soloists during the Prokofiev, demonstrated great charm and elegance in their characterizations of the tale's protagonists, and the horns were wonderfully menacing in their role as the wolf.

Two solo pianists, Audrejean Heydenburg and the orchestra's own Anita Fobes, joined the ensemble for a rousing performance of the Carnival of the Animals, which featured, in addition to the pianists's articulate limning, some striking solo playing by both principal cellist Daniel Thomas and principal bassist Andrew Hawks.

The closing work, written by Benjamin Britten to accompany a film introducing the instruments of the orchestra, allowed every member of the ensemble to contribute in a series of endlessly exposed passages. This showed off the general high quality of playing that the orchestra has been able to achieve throughout its sections.

Special Guest Craig Richard Nelson joined Maestro Osmand on stage following the Williams to voice the narration of the three remaining pieces. The concert marked Nelson's return to Jackson following his performance with the orchestra in Kismet a couple of years ago, and his obvious congeniality and familiarity with the ensemble, along with his insertion of a number of topical references to local events and places, added to the pleasure of his presentations.

The music and words from the stage were enhanced by the projection of a series of images appropriate to each of the pieces, including some striking work by local artists. The concert's acknowledgement of local creativity was also enhanced by the latest installment of composer-in-residence Bruce Brown's account of his work in progress, a concerto for percussion and orchestra, which is scheduled to be premiered by the orchestra in the spring of 2011. The brief but moving passage for strings that was played raises some lively expectations for the coming event.

The concert was very well attended, with many children swelling the audience nearly to capacity. To this writer's eyes, there was remarkably little fidgeting, and a lot of close listening going on, and it is hoped that this sort of presentation can help to build the audience of the future for the Symphony.