Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong

THE SRS ON THE ROAD TO 100

Symphony seasons everywhere now have themes, often cutesy and having little relationship to the music, but the Santa Rosa Symphony June 9 launched something special, relevant and overarching – the Road to 100.

Beginning the journey to their 100th season the orchestra performed two Beethoven Symphonies, a splendid start.

Seating the second violins stage left and omitting a podium, conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong was perhaps mimicking the small Beethoven orchestra of 1800, the year of the premiere of Symphony No. 1, Op. 21, in C Major. Before a full house Weill Hall audience the opening question-and-answer plucked strings chords seemed unique as compared to previous symphonic literature, and then the music jumped into the main tempo with excellent woodwind and trumpet playing, A little radical, a different sonority than the composer’s contemporary Haydn.

Conducting without baton or score throughout, Mr. Lecce-Chong fashioned in less than half hour a brisk interpretation that in the second movement featured timpanist Andy Lewis, and the following menuetto movement seemed witty with quick string scales. The opening of the finale with forte chords found the conductor leading a playful, almost “Haydnesque” sound, good humor everywhere, the ensemble clear and the tempo brisk.

If the C Major Symphony had for its time radical tinges, the E-Flat (Op. 55) “Eroica” could be said to revolutionary. The famous opening two chords were far removed from the “pistol shots” of Toscanini’s recordings, Mr. Lecce-Chong opting for just a little repose in the sound and not too loud, augmented with another horn and more brass, and with 38 musicians on stage. Tempos in the 18-minute long Allegro con brio bordered on fast, and in the potent six big chords (heard three times) the conductor mirrored Leonard Bernstein, angrily thrusting his arms down towards the floor for emphasis. The cellos played a rich theme wonderfully and the many sonic contrasts were visceral and exciting.

Mr. Lecce-Chong highlighted the many modulations in the Funeral March movement and the numerous surprising drum and trumpet climaxes. He crafted a long decrescendo to piano, deftly holding to strict tempo, that was exemplary. Fine horn playing was heard in the Scherzo, the quick changes in meter masterfully guided by the conductor, as was the polyphony and variations in the eminent finale. Here the conductor was always agile, controlling the mounting energy at every turn, and making this heldensymphonie a 50-minute triumph that brought the audience to its feet in a thunderous ovation. Immediately recognized by the conductor were the oboe, timpani, cello and string soloists.

The event, a single concert unlike then usual set of three, ended the 2023-2024 season of 26 concerts with palpable affection between audience and musicians, enlarged by a semi-hosted BBQ on the Weill Hall lawn where performers mixed with their adoring public and sampled gratis wine..