The atmosphere was festive as the Cleveland Pops Orchestra welcomed the
New Year Friday night at Severance Hall. Clusters of balloons decorated the
rotunda. Colorful lights illuminated the silver ceiling in the auditorium.
Toy horns were distributed in the lobby.
Music director and conductor Carl Topilow set a relaxed mood with his boyish
charm, showbiz pizazz and hot clarinet. The 59-member orchestra performed
its sunny repertoire with raucous tone, loud dynamics and vibrant rhythms.
While other New Year's Eve celebrations around the world remembered the
victims of the tsunami in Southeast Asia with a moment of silence, the pops
concert was relentlessly upbeat.
The performance opened in dramatic fashion with the lights lowered and
the numbers 2005 flashing in lighted balloons above the stage as the orchestra
played the majestic introduction to Richard Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (aka
the theme from "2001: A Space Odyssey").
The program of mostly middlebrow music featured tuneful medleys that paid
tribute to Broadway, Hollywood, Louis Armstrong, the Beatles, the Beach Boys,
champagne and warm weather. To honor the frothy Viennese New Year's Eve tradition,
the ensemble whirled through "Champagne" from Johann Strauss Jr.'s
opera, "Die Fledermaus," and members of the large crowd tooted
toy horns on cue in Josef Strauss' "Feuerfest Polka."
In past concerts, the orchestra has functioned as accompanist to a parade
of guest artists. But on this occasion, the ensemble took the spotlight,
and members of the orchestra's percussion and trombone sections came forward
for solo turns in Leroy Anderson's "Syncopated Clock" and James
Henry Fillmore's "Lassus Trombone."
Fifteen-year-old vocalist Annie Marie Eivertson, a sophomore at Shaker
Heights High School and grand prize winner of the orchestra's sixth annual
Jean L. Petitt Memorial Music Scholarship, wowed the crowd in a number from "Pippin," which
she sang and danced with the poise and personality of a Broadway starlet.
Guest vocalist Joe Bourne of Tucson, Ariz., performed two sets that included
songs by Lou Rawls, Neil Diamond and George Gershwin. Although Bourne's smooth
style and light voice were better-suited to an intimate nightclub than a
formal concert hall, he established an easy audience rapport that led listeners
to clap hands and snap fingers in rhythm. His performance culminated in a
jazzy Gershwin dialogue with clarinetist Topilow.
The orchestra's versatile leader also played solo clarinet in "Italian
Fiesta," a medley of Neapolitan songs performed in the lyrical style
of an Italian tenor with extraordinary breath control, and "Immer Kleiner," a
musical joke in which the clarinet was dismantled piece by piece during the
course of the performance.
The evening ended with social dancing to swing music played by members
of the Pops Orchestra in the foyer and light rock performed by Splash in
the lobby. Despite the predictability of the program, the annual New Year's
Eve gala continues to attract a loyal and enthusiastic following.
© 2005 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.
