Dance and Music : Burbank Symphony Premieres Concerto

The Burbank Symphony played the role of the mouse that roared Saturday. Unfortunately, in presenting the world premiere of William H. Hill’s Violin Concerto in the Hall of Liberty at Forest Lawn, the orchestra did not justify the collective effort.

Nor did the work. Yes, the piece is highly accessible. Yes, soloist Tamsen Beseke Brenton did her part with consistently satisfying playing. But, at 42 minutes, the concerto is way too long.

Cast in a traditional three-movement form, it strongly evokes Hindemith with its alternation of duple and triple meters, and a harmonic scheme built on a quartal system rather than triadic chords.

Despite the predominance of motivic material as opposed to full-blown melodies, Hill nevertheless is quite capable of writing soaring passages for the soloist--and Brenton capably scaled these lyrical heights.

A striking and dark-hued Adagio, sans violins, held one rapt, and the theme-and-variations finale had its moments. But just as in the first movement, the overriding impression is one of gesture without substance, and we are left wondering just what it was Hill wanted to say. Director Hansel Rayner’s alert and unfussy conducting allowed what eloquence there was to emerge.

After intermission it was more a matter of just keeping things from falling apart.

Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade” may have been too ambitious a choice following a world premiere. In any case, the silver lining to this clouded reading consisted in the contributions of concertmaster Roman Volodarsky. A former member of the Bolshoi Orchestra, Volodarsky revealed in his solos a versatility of expressive inflections and tone color no less than technical surety.

Review of Los Angeles Matsuri Taiko, F4.