What: The Brothers Cazimero with the Honolulu Symphony in "A Christmas Spectacular" When: 4 p.m. Sunday Where: Blaisdell Concert Hall. Tickets: Sold out; standing room only Information: 538-8863The holiday concert is usually a guaranteed highlight of the HSO's "Pops" series. It makes the reviewer feel like Scrooge to say, "Bah, humbug," about a show from such a delightful tradition. But even the Ghost of Christmas Past would point out that last night's performance lacked the vigor and polish of previous HSO collaborations with the beloved Brothers Caz.
The origin of the problems was more logistic than artistic. In fact, the concert featured a wide-ranging selection of pieces, refreshingly weighted more toward lesser-known Christmas fare than the old favorites that have been mall-Muzaked and advertising-jingled all the way to the coffers of commercialization.
Logistical issue No. 1: the sound system. The Blaisdell Concert Hall has nice acoustics for music performed without amplification, as are most opera and symphony concerts. However, when microphones enter the picture, sound quality often plummets into the abyss.
Last night's concert featured poor miking of the voices and instruments of the Brothers Cazimero. Insufficient volume and clarity deprived the audience of many song lyrics and most of the Brothers' engaging banter. The speakers picked up the extraneous byproducts of strumming, plucking, breathing and swallowing, while failing to convey the richness and fullness of tone that defines the Cazimeros.
Issue No. 2: the musical arrangements. Before the Brothers joined the symphony on stage, the concert's first half featured gorgeous and creative arrangements of unusual carols for brass quintet, orchestra, unaccompanied choir, and then the HSO and Glee Club together. The printed program did not list the pieces, but the choral number arranged over J. S. Bach's cherished "Prelude in C Major" was particularly enchanting.
So why didn't the arrangements work as well during the Cazimero portion of the evening? The lack of program notes made it impossible to tell who arranged what and, thus, if a particular arranger were to blame. Had the groups grown rusty from not working together for a while? Why was the sheet music so hard to follow that the violins actually got lost during "Nu Oli?"
The performers' unease signaled that they knew the numbers were under-rehearsed.Conductor Mahi was not his usual confident and ebullient self.
There were, of course, brighter spots. "Hawaiian Santa" showed the Caz's familiar kolohe side, with hula by four handsome elves and a woman dancer masquerading as a ti-leaf Christmas tree. In a strangely powerful mix, "Go to the Light" combined a religious message, pop music sensibility, and choral interludes from the carol, "O Holy Night." The technical inadequacies frustrated audience members, but the spirit of the season clearly moved them.
The Blaisdell management, which had a proverbial cow after the Star-Bulletin criticized it for the "Porgy and Bess" mess, conveniently washes its hands of responsibility for unacceptable sound quality, because it makes performers provide their own systems. But this is the problem itself.
How can every local group or traveling production have the perfect sound equipment for a hall that is so obviously hard to mike? With ticket prices soaring into the stratosphere, it is high time that the City invest in a quality system designed for the tetchy acoustics and adaptable to the Concert Hall's many uses.