Clippings & Reviews
Hampton Roads, January 2004
Chrismas with the York River Syphony Orchestra:
Lorraine Bell Sings
by John Campbell and Steve Brockman/Artsong Update
As we look around the Yoder Barn we see the structure of wooden
supports that give the unique curvature to the roof of what once was a working dairy barn
and is now a performing arts hall in Newport News. We had come to hear the York River
Symphony Orchestra - a group of sixty to sixty-five volunteers who are celebrating twenty
years of bringing music to their community.
The Winter Festival, led by conductors Ann Arogdale and Eric Reiff on
Sunday, December 20 & 21, 2003, presented holiday favorites in classic
arrangements, some from the fifties and sixties, such as Leroy Anderson's Sleigh Ride and
A Christmas Festival. It was exciting to hear once again the purity of these
arrangements from our childhood, but what was even more intriguing was the new music
by local composers Jeraldine Saunders Herbison and Adolphus Hailstork.
Ms. Argodale, music director, opened the program with Tchaikovsky's
Nutcracker No. 1, which was followed by Mrs. Herbison's Three Movements for Winter: Winter Walk,
Skating on a Frozen Pond and Snowball Fight. This lively, attractive holiday music
was well played and well received by the audience. Readers of this newsletter will recall
that Mrs. Herbison, a composer of note, has written some lovely art songs. She plays
violin in the orchestra and is a lifelong music educator.
Lorraine Bell, soprano, singing Dr. Hailstork's art song
Christmas Everywhere followed. This song seemed straightforward and simple but,
like most of his songs, it offered the singer subtle challenges and kept this listener
intrigued throughout. Dr. Hailstork serves on the music faculty of Old Dominion University.
Assistant conductor Eric Reiff led an excellent performance
of the Prelude from Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck, with the orchestra especially
polished in this piece. The program included an arrangement by Holcombe, The Festival of
Hanukkah. The first half ended with the glorious sound of G.F. Handel's Rejoice Greatly,
sung by Mrs. Bell, who recently completed a course in baroque music at Shenandoah University where she
is working toward a Doctorate in music. Her enhanced understanding of Baroque performance,
with enriched ornamentation and vital rhythmic understanding was apparent as her voice
danced through this holiday favorite.
Mrs. Bell returned to sing The Christmas Song by Mel Tormé,
arranged by Tommy Newsom, after the orchestra opened with Leroy Anderson's A Christmas Festival.
They followed with Frosty the Snowman. The YRSO flutes then played a set of familiar
Christmas carols. After Irving Berlin's White Christmas and Anderson's Sleigh Ride and
Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella (arranged by Davis), the orchestra played a holiday
sing-a-long with a surprise: Lorraine Bell came out to lead us. It was a real Christmas
experience, combining old and new music in a fine mix.
NEWPORT NEWS, VIRGINIA, OCTOBER 12, 2003
Cello concerto for the living room
Hampton composer has ready audience with her cellist
husband
by David Nicholson/Daily Press
Hampton composer Jeraldine Herbison knows that any piece she writes for
cello will get performed - at least in her living room. Her husband, Jim, is a
cellist who teaches at
Norfolk
State University and
performs with the Virginia Symphony.
But her Cello Concerto has made the rounds. The work was commissioned by the
Afro-American Chamber Music Society of California and given its first
performance out there. Next weekend, Jim will give the work its first Virginia
hearing when he performs it with the York River Symphony Orchestra.
"The only thing I regret is that I want to be in the audience listening to it,"
says Jeraldine, who plays viola in the York River group. "Instead, I'm going to
be too busy playing it."
Throughout the Herbisons' lives, music has been a recurring theme. They met
more than 30 years ago at Hampton University, where he conducted the Hampton
Institute Community Orchestra (HICO), as it was called then, and she played
principal violin.
Since then, they've balanced careers in musical education with performances
together in the HICO String Quartet that Jim founded. In 1998 Jeraldine retired
as a string teacher with the Newport News public schools, and now she teaches
privately and plays viola in the
York River orchestra.
Retirement has given Jeraldine more time to compose. Her output includes a
variety of works for voice, small ensembles and orchestras.
When musical ideas pop into her head, she jots them down in one of several
notebooks she keeps handy. Before beginning a piece, she'll pull out the books
and work with ideas for a while. She may try them out on an instrument to see
what they sound like. For larger works such as the cello concerto or a
symphony, she uses a computer music software program called Finale.
"I've written lots of works for cello because I know I can get them played," she
says, looking over at Jim.
Concertos for solo instrument and orchestra are usually scored in three
movements, but Jeraldine added another movement because she had four ideas she
wanted to use. The theme for the first movement was taken from an earlier
quintet she wrote after the death of her father. Then the movement lightens up
in the second movement, which has a waltz-like theme that suggests dancing.
An American folk theme dominates the third movement, which omits the orchestra's
strings and pairs the cello with woodwinds and percussion. Finally, she gives
the last movement a jazzy feeling by making the cello sound like a saxophone.
"I was trying to bring out my jazz roots, at least that what it sounds like to
me," says Jeraldine. "The audience may hear something totally different, and
that's all right."
[Ann] Argodale, [music director of the York River Symphony Orchestra] too, heard
lots of folk sounds in Jeraldine's piece. So she paired the concerto with works
by Brahms and Dvorak, two composers known for including folk melodies in their
music.
"Jeraldine has a knack for writing folk-like, accessible melodies which stay
with you," says Argodale. "At the same time, the concerto is a virtuoso piece
for the soloist, and Jim plays it beautifully."
Jim can attest to the demands of the piece. Looking at an earlier version of
the concerto, he remarks, "Oh, that's a lot easier than it is now."
For the Herbisons, composing can have a collaborative aspect as well.
"When I write for the cello, I write the music, and then I ask Jim if it is
playable," she says. "He helps me rearrange chords. And he shows me harmonies
for the cello."
Jim feels the cello concerto fits the instrument well, and he's pleased to be
able to perform it.
"Early on, we used to do a lot of programs and workshops together," says Jim.
"But as time went on, we haven't done it as much." "It's nice to get back to
it."
|
|
|