Discover Walla Walla

Viennese Romance, the third concert of the Walla Walla Symphony season, began with a bit of humor and a bunch of energy. After Maestro Yaacov Bergman did not enter on cue, the players pretended as if something were amiss. As the pause lingered, they shrugged their shoulders, raised their instruments and began playing without their conductor. Moments later, a startled Bergman scurried onto the stage and glared at them as if to say "how could you start without me?"

This planned confusion played well with the crowd, drawing chuckles and applause. As Bergman turned to the crowd with a sly smile on his face, he began exhorting them to clap along to "The Radetzky March" -- the night was off to an upbeat start. "Radetzky" is considered Johann Strauss's Sr.'s most famous piece and is performed every year at the closing of the Vienna Symphony's New Year's Eve concert. It is tradition that the crowd claps to the beat of the march, and Bergmann relished the role of miming instructions to the crowd regarding when to clap softly, loudly, and to halt. He would thunder his hand toward the audience when the clapping was to reach a crescendo.

By the end of the buoyant piece, Cordiner Hall, the home of the Walla Walla Symphony, was bursting with mirth.

The first half of the concert paid homage to the Strauss family. Sadly, two pieces were struck from the program at the last minute: Johan Strauss Jr.'s Tales from the Vienna Woods and Josef Strauss's Woman's Heart. Still, the orchestra did justice to the two remaining pieces by Strauss Jr. -- Voices of Spring and the iconic The Blue Danube.

Before the break, Bergman guided the orchestra as horn player, Dean Kravig, was featured on horn in Richard Strauss's Horn Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major. Kravig, a longtime member of the symphony and an adjunct Professor of Horn at Walla Walla University, handled the piece capably and was given a strong ovation from the home crowd.

After the intermission, the concert departed from the Strauss family and featured another Vienna master, Franz Schubert, and his Symphony No. 9 in C Major. As one classical musician once quipped to me, "No. 9 if played well is a phenomenal piece; if not . . . it is one long symphony." In this case, it was phenomenal.

The orchestra took the audience on the rollercoaster ride that is "No. 9" - the horns charging ahead and the strings bursting with sound . . .  only to come to a halt, bringing the listener back to his seat, and then the strings begin that slow, beautiful, meandering melody. Nearing the end of the ride, the orchestra brought the piece home with a vengeance: the string players furiously sawing with their bows, the horns driving with full force as the reeds threw in the intermittent spice. Maestro Bergman, his silver haired head bouncing up and down and his black silk covered arms rapidly jabbing and slicing the air, led his orchestra deftly to the dramatic end.

And when it was over, the crowd responded heartily with a lengthy ovation. Viennese Romance, indeed!