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October 9, 2008
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The doctor is in tune When conductor Robert C. Babb mapped out his 15th season leading the Granite State Symphony Orchestra, one goal was to strengthen the group’s community connections. One result of that effort is the appearance of Dr. Thomas Sheldon, an oboe-playing oncologist at Concord Hospital, as one of two soloists for the orchestra’s season-opening concert on Saturday, Oct. 11. Sheldon will be joined by his teacher, oboist Margaret Herlehy, in a performance of Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Oboes in D minor. Herlehy, the orchestra’s principal oboist, is on the University of New Hampshire faculty and well-known around the state. “This season, every concert has a soloist connected to the community,” Babb said. “It’s about creating interest for the concerts,” Babb said, “but it’s also about creating an orchestra that’s connected to the community.” Babb cites Dr. Sheldon’s passion for the oboe as just the kind of local musicianship he’d like to tap into. “Here’s a guy who actually plays his oboe throughout the cancer wing,” Babb said. “They just love it there, and also there’s evidence that music helps the healing process.” Though it’s the doctor’s first time as soloist, he’s an experienced player in such ensembles as Boston’s Longwood Orchestra, with which he recently performed in London. Also on the program are a Schubert overture and Beethoven’s boisterous Symphony No. 8, a sunny work that ranks among the composer’s most engaging scores. Looking ahead, the Granite State Symphony season lacks any blockbuster works in the 2008-09 season. This season’s most ambitious scores are more modest — on the order of Mendelssohn’s ‘Reformation’ Symphony No. 5 next March in honor of the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth. The Granite State Symphony’s opening night concert is Saturday, Oct. 11, at 8 p.m. at Concord City Auditorium, corner of Green and Pleasant streets. For ticket prices and more info, call 226-4776 or visit gsso.org. • Opening night in Nashua: In his first concert as the Nashua Symphony’s new music director, conductor Jonathan McPhee started off his tenure with strong performances of a bouquet of entertaining scores. With a fairly large audience (about 800 people) on hand for opening night on Saturday, Oct. 4, at Nashua’s Keefe Auditorium, McPhee and the orchestra delivered lively and well-played renditions of Smetena’s “The Moldau,” Kodály’s “Peacock” Variations, and Dvorák’s “New World” Symphony No. 9. McPhee programmed the concert without a soloist so as to keep the spotlight on the orchestra, and it certainly did. All sections had their moments in each piece, with the brass standing out impressively in bringing to life the Kodály score’s tart harmonies. For me, the real achievement of the night was making the familiar New World Symphony sound fresh and exciting. The piece is such a warhorse, it wasn’t that long ago that the Nashua High School band played an overblown arrangement of the finale as part of its half-time routine. But McPhee worked wonders with the music, somehow finding a way to let the players discover the piece all over again. The result was a fresh-sounding “New World” that ebbed and flowed with life from the downbeat to the final chord. It held together — and held interest — for all four movements. Jeff Rapsis is a musician and a member of the board of directors of the Manchester Community Music School, and contributes program notes to the New Hampshire Philharmonic and others. Jeff Rapsis is a musician and a member of the board of directors of the Manchester Community Music School, and contributes program notes to the New Hampshire Philharmonic and others.
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10/2/2008 A whole new world
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