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VIOLINIST Lara St. John makes quite an impression on stage, but her music makes an even greater impression. Commemorating the 10th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein's death with Maestro Samuel Wong and the Honolulu Symphony, St. John performed Serenade, one of Bernstein's finest works. Bernstein celebrated
Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story:
Honolulu Symphony with violinist Lara St. John;
repeats 7:30 p.m. tomorrow; Blaisdell Concert Hall.
Tickets $15 to $55. Call 792-2000.
By Ruth O. Bingham
Special to the Star-BulletinSerenade began quietly with solo violin, and at first, St. John's stature (just under 6 feet) overshadowed her playing. That soon changed. Aggressive and committed, St. John was as physical in her performance as Bernstein once was in conducting. Shifting her balance like a fighter, lunging into fortissimo endings, swaying through lyrical passages, St. John seemed to sing; the music seemed to rise from deep inside her and through the violin.
Her violin was a 1779 Guadagnini, on loan from an anonymous donor. Long ago, the violin was purchased by a doting father for his son. When the son died of tuberculosis at 17, the father entombed the violin in his son's mausoleum, where it rested for almost half a century. About 20 years ago, it was finally recovered and auctioned.
The violin has a warm, mellow tone, but with a large sound that carries easily, even on the fading pianissimo notes St. John performed so well.
Despite showing her age by calling Plato's Symposium "a bunch of Greek guys," St. John read Bernstein's score intimately, from the furious "Eryximachus," through the beautiful "Agathon," to the jazzy, somewhat raucous "Socrates." She delivered a highly expressive performance, including a dynamite duet with cellist Susie Lee, who gave another fine solo in Chichester Psalms.
Wong rounded out this literary concert with Bernstein's Chichester Psalms from the Bible, and two of Bernstein's most popular works, the overture to Candide, based on Voltaire, and a suite from West Side Story, based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Wong's choices reflected Bernstein's renaissance life and the variety deftly skirted stylistic monotony, a difficulty with single-composer concerts.
West Side Story is Bernstein's best known work, and consequently the best part of the concert for many. Occasionally, however, a critic must reveal prejudices, and medleys are one of mine. The problem is that their coherence lies outside the concert hall: if you don't know the original, they present a meaningless series of disjunct moments; but if you do, the music sends you back to a sort-of musical reminiscence: "wasn't the original great"? Yes, but I inevitably leave wishing I had heard the original, and that disqualifies me from commenting. (Very nice viola solo by Mark Butin, however.)
Chichester Psalms featured the lovely voice of boy soprano Kama Naipo. The orchestra was ably joined by director Tim Carney's Oahu Choral Society. Amateur groups lie beyond the parameters of a professional review, but until Honolulu can support a professional choir, the community owes them its heartfelt appreciation. Without them, these works could not be performed.
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