Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra reviewed

(Excerpted from the article 'Mann Center gears up for classical shows' found here.)

By Michael Caruso, Correspondent      06/09/2006

Irving Ludwig closed out his 15th season as music director & conductor of the Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra with a stunning performance Sunday afternoon, May 21, in the auditorium of Upper Darby High School. In a program that included Dvorak's Romance in F minor and Sarasate's "Carmen" Fantasy featuring his son, Michael, as violin soloist, plus Berlioz's "Symphonie fantastique," Ludwig showed himself a master orchestra builder and an exemplary interpreter.

Just to set the record straight, Berlioz's "Symphonie fantastique" is one of the most daunting scores in the standard symphonic repertoire. Its five movements were the last word in orchestral tone painting when the score was composed in 1830 and they have remained paradigms of imaginative scoring ever since.

Needless to say, the "Symphonie fantastique" is a terrifically difficult piece to play, even for a seasoned professional orchestra. For an amateur ensemble, such as the Lansdowne Symphony, that boasts only a few professional "ringers" from the Philadelphia Orchestra, attempting such a score initially strikes one as sheer madness. And for most amateur orchestras, it would be. But not for the Lansdowne Symphony. Under Ludwig's baton, the LSO played the "Symphonie fantastique" with technical authority and interpretive conviction.

The narrative imagery of its five movements — "Dreams", "Passions", "A Ball", "Scene in the Fields", "March to the Scaffold" and "Witches Sabbath" — was conjured up with visual precision and passionate intensity.

Michael Ludwig is leaving his position as associate concertmaster with the Philadelphia Orchestra to take up the post of concertmaster with the Buffalo Philharmonic this fall, so these were among his final local solo performances. He gave the Dvorak a romantic reading overflowing with gorgeous tone and melting lyricism, then turned up the voltage to an explosive level for the pyrotechnical brilliance of the Sarasate. Obviously, our loss is Buffalo's gain.