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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2009 > April > 06 > Entry
Review: Round Rock Symphony Orchestra, take 2
Saturday night, the Round Rock Symphony Orchestra, in its only second show, gave a much more polished performance than its debut in October.
The first of two performances, Saturday’s concert attracted more than 100 folks. And interestingly, it was in North Austin, at Westover Hills Church of Christ. Sunday, the RRSO played Round Rock.
Music director Silas Nathaniel Huff took an interesting approach for a new, suburban orchestra, presenting a program of two new works bookended by romantic symphonic staples.
Bringing panache to Saturday’s concert was guest soloist, violinist Jessica Mathaes, concertmistress of the Austin Symphony Orchestra. Mathaes played the premiere of Manly Romero’s “Remember Father.” Mathaes wrested a great deal of nuance form Romero’s intricate, repeating layers that built interesting into a tense height before exhaling with a mournful sigh.
Allen Schulz’s “This Day, This Dusk,” employed predictable contrasts between violent, melodies that were then balanced against lighter passages. In the end, the piece felt weary, not exhilarating.
Surrounding the Romero and Schulz were Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet’ Overture and Stravinsky’s ‘Firebird’ suite — both about as markedly un-modern as the two center pieces. Huff has got the orchestra sounding a bit tighter and smoother than its shaky debut even if all the awkward edges are not totally worked out. And confidence and cohesion still needs to grow.
And yet, an orchestra attempts to grow for Round Rock, and that’s just fine.
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