The Challenge: Aiming the MCO toward a higher level
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Viktor Rosenbaum, a well-known Boston pianist and conductor, will lead the Montpelier Chamber Orchestra in concerts March 21 and 22 in Montpelier. STEFAN HARD/TIMES ARGUS |
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By Jim Lowe Times Argus Staff - Published: March 13, 2009
Victor Rosenbaum, a highly respected and veteran musician, concert pianist, conductor and longtime member of the Boston University music faculty, will conduct the Montpelier Chamber Orchestra in its upcoming concerts.
"I love working with a community orchestra because the kind of the commitment and enthusiasm that a community orchestra brings to the music is really unparalleled," he explained in an interview at Capitol Grounds, before Monday's rehearsal. "It is wonderful to work with people who are only doing it because they love doing it."
Rosenbaum will conduct the central Vermont community orchestra at Vermont College of the Arts' College Hall in Montpelier on Saturday, March 21, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, March 22, at 4 p.m. His program, "Beethoven, Haydn and Heaven," will feature Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in c minor, Opus 37, with soloist Mana Tokuno; Haydn's Symphony No. 103 ("The Drum Roll"); and "Seven Steps to Heaven" by Thomas Oboe Lee.
Rosenbaum is the second guest conductor to lead the MCO since Troy Peters stepped down as music director in the spring of 2008, after only one season at the helm. Paul Gambill of Nashville, who conducted the orchestra last November, and Rosenbaum are candidates for the position.
Rosenbaum has performed widely as piano soloist and chamber musician around the United States, and in Europe, Asia, Israel and Russia, in such prestigious halls as New York's Tully Hall and The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. Rosenbaum has also been assistant conductor of the Brandeis and Princeton University orchestras, has guest-conducted the orchestras of New England Conservatory and the Longy School of Music, as well as the new England Conservatory Contemporary Ensemble, the Mystic Valley Symphony Orchestra (now New England Philharmonic), the Quincy Symphony Orchestra. Rosenbaum was also founder and conductor of the Concerto Company, a chamber orchestra committed to giving young soloists the experience of performing concertos.
"Conducting is something I want to do more of," Rosenbaum said. "I've been primarily a pianist, soloist and chamber musician, and teacher in my career. But, I have conducted all of my life, from high school age. It's a wonderful way to make music."
For Rosenbaum, it's not only new repertoire to explore, but a different way to look at repertoire he has long been familiar with.
"In this concert, for example, I get to conduct a piece I have played as piano soloist, the Beethoven Third Concerto," he said. "To be responsible for the orchestra part is another way to delve into that music seriously and intensively."
The concerto, one of Rosenbaum's favorites, was a joint choice between him and the soloist. Tokuno, once a student of Rosenbaum's and a fellow Boston resident, is at the beginning of a substantial solo career. First prize winner of the prestigious Competition Internationalé, she also received the Leo Sirota Award for piano solo performance at the Corpus Christi International Competition, as well as the Special Award for Schubert Interpretation at the International Competition Valsesia Musica in Varallo, Italy. Other prizes include the Dosei-Kai Prize for Distinction in Performance, and the Silver Medal in the Chubu Chopin Competition in Nagoya, Japan.
The other major work Rosenbaum chose is Haydn's Symphony No. 103 in E-flat Major, the 11th of the 12 so-called "London Symphonies," written for the composer's visits to England. The long roll on the timpani with which it begins earned it the nickname "The Drum Roll."
"I love Haydn symphonies," Rosenbaum said. "I think Haydn is an underappreciated composer and this happens to be the 200th anniversary of his death."
That this particular symphony has the same instrumentation as the Beethoven was another reason for its choice.
"It's a way to keep the players actively involved in the program," Rosenbaum said. "And it's very wonderful, inventive and unusual in many respects. Each movement is a real gem unto its own; each is very different than the others, full of character and life and – as always is the case with Haydn – surprises."
Rosenbaum's program fits the traditional symphonic formula – a "war horse" (the Haydn), a concerto (the Beethoven), and a shorter, less-known but interesting piece. His choice was Lee's "Seven Steps to Heaven."
"I knew that I wanted to include something of a New England composer," Rosenbaum said. "There were only a few weeks to put the program together, so I turned to a friend of mine and asked what he had for chamber orchestra, string orchestra in particular.
"I thought it would be a good idea for the strings to make them cohere as an entity," Rosenbaum said. "It's a very melodic, rhythmically engaging piece that I think people will like on the first gearing. It's tonal but mildly dissonant, with pop and jazz influences."
Rosenbaum has now had three rehearsals with the orchestra, and next week he will work with them again on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, before the performances. Throughout, he intends to challenge the musicians to be their best, even better than they think they can be.
"I believe with any musicians you work with, either as a mentor or as a colleague, you want to challenge them and yourself to reach for the highest possible standard," he said. "I always think that a community group, which is doing music for fun, understands at some significant, deep level that the better you get at what you're doing, the deeper you go, the more fun you actually have from it."
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