Good Evening!
What an interesting night at Wolf Trap...
Since it was Gala Night, they had a later curtain than usual, 8:30. Upon opening the playbill, there was no real program listed for tonight's program. Just a page with:
Linda Rondstadt
and the
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
plus her band performing her
GREATEST ROCK HITS
and the great
AMERICAN STANDARDS
as arranged by Nelson Riddle
{Ms. Ronstadt's pciture}
Then briefs bios of Ms. Ronstadt and The BSO.
No song listing - which I didn't really expect - but no conductor listed either - not even the standard listing for the head and associate conductors for the BSO.
Well...
After watching the parade of tuxes and evening dresses coming into the house from the Gala reception, the lights came down around 8:40. The concertmistress walked out and the orchestra tuned up. Then the unidentified conductor came out, and he led the BSO in a Gershwin overture. -I'm sorry, I don't know which one it was, and since there was no listing in the program... After the opening selection, a gentleman walked on-stage, and welcomed the crowd to the Gala. Then he introduced the "surprise" conductor - who's name I didn't know, but he's based out of Virginia - and then the "surprise" piano soloist. -And, yes, he used the word "surprise".
And from the tone he was using, it seemed that "surprise" meant "last minute replacement". Then he said the orchestra would play one more selection with the soloist which would be followed by an intermission after which Ms. Ronstadt would take us through the American songbook. Hmm...
This was the
first point in the evening where you could feel the energy in the house just shift a little bit. Yes, it was Gala Night, but all the advertisements simply mentioned that Linda Ronstadt would be singing that evening. So, as the opening clarinet trill of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" started, there was some very audible shifting in the seats from those audience members who had obviously come to see and hear Ms. Ronstadt, not the Baltimore Symphony with some "surprise" soloist led by a "surprise" conductor. -And the gentleman in front of me and my friend, Andy (who took me to the concert), was particularly fidgety. Even his mother, we presumed, who was sitting next to him was trying to keep him still in his seat throughout the first half of the evening.
*And after thinking about it, if you paid $48.00 to go see Linda Ronstadt, you want to see Linda Ronstadt. But since I actually like orchestral music, and "Rhapsody In Blue" was one of the first pieces of music I ever tried to learn, I didn't mind the orchestral prelude to Ms. Rondstadt's portion of the night. And after years of attending "Pops" concerts, I'm used to the headliner
not performing the whole evening.
In any case, the pianist played a fine "Rhapsody", and for me, it was nice to hear the piece played live for the first time in a long time. It wasn't the most brilliant rendition I've ever heard, but there was some nice musical moments throughout. -And the clarinet, trumpet and trombone players were having a field day with all the blues bends - at times it seemed like they were just "lipping" from note to note - lots of sliding going on.
Intermission.
The lights come down again, the orchestra starts an intro... Wait - who is this conductor?!?!?!... Ms. Ronstadt walks out... "What's New?"... Aahh... And after the song, she introduced her conductor for the evening, jazz pianist and arranger, Alan Broadbent.
All in all, Ms. Ronstadt was in great voice throughout the evening, and some of those final notes just seemed to go on forever. After some of the Nelson Riddle arrangements, Mr. Broadbent headed to the piano, and Ms. Ronstadt performed two numbers from her upcoming album (on Verve) of jazz standards that her and Mr. Broadbent have been working on. There was a Cole Porter number, and a particularly neat treatment of "Never, Never Will I Marry".
Then the band started up, and the piano started playing some octaves, and then a good portion of the audience started to come to life: "Just One Look". She then started going through some of her 70's hits, as well as a trio of Jimmy Webb songs. After the Webb songs, she commented, "I promise no more Jimmy Webb songs," and then explained that if you're happy, just be happy, but if you're depressed, then there is nothing like singing a sad song to make you feel better. -I had never really heard those songs before, and I'm gonna have to look them up and add them to my library in both audio and print form. "Somewhere, Out There," a number from one of the "Trio" albums, and then "Blue Bayou". And that was it...
It was a solid hour of singing, with lots of variety, and Ms. Ronstadt demonstrated that she still has quite the instrument and quite the vocal range.
Well, then came the encore...
(To Be Continued...)
