Concert Fire Alarm

No, the fire alarm did not go off during our concert. Nothing was on fire … except for Maestro. He was conducting like wildfire. Perhaps he was inspired by the fact that we were honoring the local volunteer fire department at our spring concert this past Friday night.

Very fittingly our repertoire included several fiery pieces appropriately titled: The Midnight Fire Alarm , a very lively, fun piece that I hope we play again at our June and July concerts, Chariots of Fire, Berceuse and Finale from Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, and the William Tell Overture. The accelerandos and roaring tempos were tempered with some calmer melodic standards – Star Dust and Dancing in the Dark, also a tasteful (though slightly schmaltzy) arrangement of familiar melodies titled Classic Impressions (arr. C. Paul Herfurth), an Andrew Lloyd Webber medley titled Symphonic Reflections, and the very majestic Procession of the Nobles by Rimsky-Korsakov.

Aside from the fact that all 3 cellos got lost somewhere during the seemingly endless 26 measures of tied D’s in the Berceuse, it was a very successful concert. Other members of the orchestra agreed that it was an excellent selection of music. Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun with it.