POPS REVIEW : Cornet, Baton Mix Mellowly

While few would dispute the preeminent role of the orchestra conductor in 20th-Century music, the era of his unquestioned reign may be drawing to a close. Two signs on the horizon herald this change. The first is the reappearance of the conductorless orchestra, the norm in the 18th Century, such as New York City’s Orpheus Chamber Ensemble.

The second is the arrival on the podium of the virtuoso performer who both plays and conducts. Cornetist Mark Gould demonstrated his dual talents Wednesday night with the San Diego Pops Orchestra at Hospitality Point.

Watching Gould commence Herbert Clark’s “Maid of the Mist,” then set his baton down and pick up his cornet to launch into the work’s brilliant solo figurations, should have sent shivers of apprehension up the spine of the typical non-playing conductor. And perhaps a few cost-conscious symphony board members were wondering why they paid conductors just to stand and beat time, when they could hire a soloist and leader for the same price.

Gould’s programming brought a welcome change of pace to the pops routine. He ignored those ubiquitous pops staples: nonstop medleys, motion picture

themes and the best of Ferde Grofe. Instead, he guided the pops audience through the musical high points of the virtuoso cornet era, from the golden age of civic brass bands to ragtime to the jazz tunes of Bix Biederbecke and Louis Armstrong. Although most people remember Armstrong as a trumpeter, Gould reminded his audience that he started out as a cornetist.

Along the way, Gould peppered his musical examples with anecdotes and the irreverent asides brass players exchange in the safety of the orchestra’s back row. A native New Yorker, Gould always referred to the orchestra’s brass players as “da boys,” even though the new principal trombone is Heather Buchman. “The Three Solitaires” and Armstrong’s “Cornet Chop Suey” served to show off the admirable chops of the orchestra’s newest trumpet players, principal Calvin Price and John Wilds.

If some of the repertoire was slightly off the beaten track, Sachse’s Concertino for E-flat Saxhorn and Victor Herbert’s “The Three Solitaires,” Gould’s estimable technique and sympathetic interpretations kept his audience in thrall. He was in top form giving stylish inflections to Biederbecke’s “Singin’ the Blues” and “In the Dark,” and he sailed through the demanding fioritura of the Clark showpiece.

But, when it came to spinning out a slow, creamy melody, Gould lacked that lush, seamless legato line for which the mellow cornet was known. In these situations, e.g. his solo rendition of “Danny Boy,” his articulation was too distinct and his timbre sounded too close to that of a standard trumpet. When he is not gracing the podium, Gould is principal trumpet in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.