Pennsylvania Philharmonic, Sunday May 17th 2015

[nightscape94 965]

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Pennsylvania Philharmonic

West Chester, Pa

I have a confession to make. Before stumbling upon an ad for this concert online, I had never heard of the Pennsylvania Philharmonic. There are some smaller local orchestras that I am familiar with, but this one escaped my periphery. The explanation for this, perhaps, was stated in the opening remarks by its founder, Scott Robinson, when he clarified that they were a non-profit orchestra that concentrated on going out into Pennsylvania districts in order to work directly with schools. Their goal is to help strengthen the musical education of students and children. Most of their concerts are not public performances.

For their spring pops concert, they went with programing film music, specifically focused around the ever-popular and culturally omnipresent John Williams.

The concert was located on the campus of West Chester University in Asplundh Concert Hall, and despite a bit of heaviness in the air, the day was bright and welcoming.

When I arrived, you could tell right away that they were making this an event. They encouraged people, through advertisements on their website, to come dressed in costume. There were young wizards and fedora-wearing action heroes scuttling around their sidekicks (parents). The excitement of the occasion seemed to infect the adults as well; a grown man dressed as Mad-Eye Moody, equipped with a persuasive fake eye, stood casually in the ticket line with his son. There was a sense of community atmosphere that is lacking in most orchestral concerts I attend.

They also had posters of several films in the lobby to set the mood and a neat green screen setup where you could be photographed and then inserted into scenes with Stormtroopers, Superman, and, if you posed convincingly enough, act as a reimagined Indian Jones escaping a famously determined boulder.

The 60-member orchestra was set, the 1200 capacity hall was modestly filled, and the first half of the afternoon took flight with the main march from ‘Superman’. This immediately set the tone and expectations for the rest of the performance. It was an indicator of good things to come. Some nice inclusions were the Cowboys Overture and a suite from other such westerns as The Magnificent Seven, How the West Was Won, Silverado and Dances with Wolves. The acoustics were pleasant, not too dry sounding, and the orchestra projected well given their size. The strings and percussion in particular played with zest during this stretch.

The conductor, Michael Butterman, was very engaging and, knowing his audience, his lighthearted personality appeared to match the mission of the ensemble. There was a moment early on when the tux-clad maestro declared that it was too hot, removed his jacket, and convinced the concertmaster to do like-wise. Naturally, the rest of the men followed their lead. They all spent the rest of the concert showing off their cummerbunds. Later, during the final selection before intermission, the conductor was given a wand as a more fitting conducting tool for Harry’s Wondrous World. The toy made some type of noise when waved, which brought some well-earned laughter from the audience and musicians when he brought the wand down to start the piece. Realizing it may not work, he exchanged it for the more favorable and trusty baton.

Film music still has the unfortunate stigma of being unintellectual or unworthy of the concert hall, but Mr. Butterman showed a good understanding of the ebbs and flows, peaks and valleys, and the inherent and intricate complexity in Williams’ writing and orchestration. The band was on point, very much in synch, and showed considerable rhythmic adeptness. He would also communicate to the audience occasionally with a microphone to briefly introduce certain pieces. By extension, he showed his knowledge of the material and its history.

The second half began with a piece from one of my all-time favorite Williams scores, ‘Hook’. Flight to Neverland was as enchanting and uplifting as ever. There were some featured moments for soloists, including Viktor’s Tale from ‘The Terminal’ and the Theme from ‘Schindler’s List’, performed by their principal clarinetist, Doris Hall-Gulati, and concertmaster, Genaro Medina, respectively. Both of these showcased the remarkable level of skill that the orchestras has with its members.

The magic continued with Adventures on Earth from ‘E.T.’, albeit in a shortened version missing the more emotional middle section.

I’ve heard these pieces many times, and while there may not have been any new musical discoveries with the Imperial March or Main Title from ‘Jaws’, it was fun, due in no small part by Mr. Butterman and the palpable enjoyment his players. The orchestra had many young faces among their ranks. I caught many of them smiling widely or beaming during familiar passages or themes. Their exuberance and clear love of the material was contagious. The audience applauded appreciatively and lovingly after each break.

The day ended with the Raiders March (there was no encore). As I was exiting the hall, a father and young son I had recognized from earlier stepped out from their row; the man patted him on the head and said, “Pretty good huh?” The son responded with an enthusiastic “Yup!” and took a fedora he was holding, placed it on his head, and continued on ahead of me, undoubtedly to wrap himself in adventure in search for some lost artifact.

Full Program:

- Superman March from 'Superman: The Movie'

- Across the Stars from 'Attack of the Clones'

- Imperial March from 'The Empire Strikes Back'

- Cowboys Overture from 'The Cowboys'

- Great Westerns Suite (arr. Tvzik) - The Magnificent Seven, How the West Was Won, Silverado, Dances with Wolves

- Harry's Wondrous World from 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'

Intermission

- Flight to Neverland from 'Hook'

- Main Theme from 'Jaws'

- Prelude from 'Psycho'

- Viktor's Tale from 'The Terminal'

- Adventures on Earth from 'E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial'

- Main Theme from 'Schindler's List'

- Raiders March from 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'

[Incanus 5,714]

Thank you for this great vivid report!

[Jay 37,336]

Splendid write-up, sounds like a fun night for sure!

I can't recall if I've ever seen Across the Stars live....

[karelm 2,911]

That is a very ambitious concert for a community orchestra. Really excellent for them to do this and glad it was such a big success. By the way, was there a photo you tried to attach?

[Jay 37,336]

http://postimg.org/image/jnjm4b1td/