Concert shows
impressive range

American music composed before 1950 is rarely heard on programs of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, but Friday evening's concert featured three of the most popular works from this era in a celebration of Veterans Day.

America's Heroes Continues today at 4 p.m. at the Blaisdell Concert Hall. For tickets or information, call 792-2000

Both George Gershwin (1898-1937) and Aaron Copland (1900-1990) are famous for their populist works that attempted to win a larger audience for American art music. Although both composers were committed modernists who also wrote works in more challenging styles, it is the populist works that have remained most firmly ensconced in the standard repertoire.

Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" was written for a 1924 concert in which Paul Whiteman brought together jazz and symphonic music. Scholar Susan Neimoyer has noted that the work is a subtle and complex score that melds Gershwin's understanding of Schoenberg's modernist aesthetic with a deep structural connection to the blues. For audiences, though, it is the catchy tunes that give the piece its charm.

Pianist Thomas Yee played the brilliant score with graceful nuance and impressive technique. His solo passages ranged from driving rhythms to capricious rubato. Unfortunately, the piano's placement in front of the proscenium allowed the massive orchestra to overpower the soloist in many of the tutti passages. Some of the solos, for instance the trumpet licks of Mark Schubert, exhibited a jazzy flair, but the orchestra as a whole seemed a bit unwieldy in the fast, syncopated sections.

Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" was narrated by George Takei of "Star Trek" fame. His rich baritone voice and understated delivery were ideal for the epic words of our 16th president. Samuel Wong coaxed an impressive dynamic range from the orchestra and served as a sensitive accompanist during the narrated segments.

Copland's Symphony No. 3 is perhaps the most accessible symphony ever composed by an American. It is the prime example of the populist style developed by the previously modernist composer in response to the Great Depression and World War II. Though individual intervals may be intensely dissonant, the overall sound of the piece is pandiatonic -- encompassing all the tones of the diatonic scale in a pleasing homogeneity.

The orchestra was augmented substantially for the symphony, featuring 14 brass players, five percussionists, two harpists and two keyboard players, as well as an unusually large number of string players. This allowed Wong to sculpt a monumental arch in the first movement that rose from serenity to crashing cacophony and sank again to calmness.

The final movement incorporates the familiar strains of Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man," an ideal showcase for timpanist Stuart Chafetz and the 14 brass players. Maestro Wong reveled in the triumphal strains of the movement, bringing the concert to a crowd-pleasing conclusion.