Former SRS conductor Corrick Brown

SEPTEMBER SR SYMPHONY CONCERT TO SHOWCASE WEILL HALL SOUND

This article is the first in a series concerning the coming SRS season’s seven sets of concerts and an opening gala.

A new concert hall and an old orchestra are not strange bedfellows, as witness the Santa Rosa Symphony, which will play its first formal Weill Hall concert at Sonoma State University’s Green Music Center on Sept. 30. Known as the preeminent regional orchestra in the west, the SRS is an excellent fit for the palatial Weill and its vaunted, but yet to be fully tested, acoustics. The concert follows the previous evening’s inaugural event, a piano recital by superstar Lang Lang. Encoring the volcanic Mr. Lang is no easy task, and tickets for both events will be hard to find.

What music befits the SRS in its initial residence performance? The answer is Beethoven’s Op. 124 “Consecration of the House” overture. It has a dramatic processional and a brilliant close, and it’s just the right length, with playing time of about 11 minutes. Former SRS maestro Corrick Brown, long associated with the major Viennese composers, is the perfect choice to conduct. I suspect he will get a standing ovation while mounting the podium.

Beethoven’s fourth piano concerto, Op. 58, is never flashy but always profound, shirking the stricter architectural forms of the third concerto and the bravura of the following "Emperor" concerto. Past SRS conductor Jeffrey Kahane returns to play the fourth, which he previously played with the SRS, along with all the other Beethoven concertos, in two memorable performances in November 2000, conducting from his own piano. The fourth is a spiritual work with a haunting slow movement, and since conductor Bruno Ferrandis will be on the podium, Mr. Kahane can give full attention to the necessary nuance and majesty.

At least 15 composers as disparate as Brahms, Rubinstein, Medtner, Saint-Saëns and Busoni have written cadenzas for the first and third movements, but hardly any pianist pays attention to this rich lode anymore, or writes their own. Mr. Kahane will opt for the Beethoven cadenzas. The performance promises to be a memorable collaboration of pianist and orchestra.

Three works follow intermission, beginning with a world premiere: Nolan Gasser’s "Sonoma Overture." The advance information describes the piece as “evoking the natural beauty and bounty of Sonoma County and honors its people.” One can translate that description as a work without pesky complexity or much dissonance. We shall see. Copland’s "Canticle of Freedom" will give Weill Hall its first test of massed voices, as the orchestra and a big part for percussion are joined by the Symphony’s 110-voice Honor Choir, to be prepared by Robert Worth. Mr. Ferrandis will conduct both the Copland and the evening’s final work, the Ravel "Bolero."

Composed in 1927 with Ravel's usual brilliant orchestration, "Bolero" is expected to raise the roof in the new hall a few feet, and may be heard all the way back to the Wells Fargo Center. Originally composed for the ballet, performances of "Bolero" are often mesmerizing, or just loud, or quite fast, or a combination of all three. If all goes as planned, "Bolero" may capture the Symphony's sound in their magnificent new home in a way few would have imagined a decade ago.