WALNUT CREEK - Used in an English phrase, you don't sneeze at something
important or valuable; in Hungarian folklore, you sneeze when you tell a
tall tale.

Without delving into the potentially mind-boggling etymologies of
various national responses to allergy, here is a simple fact: Zoltan
Kodaly's opera about the Hungarian folk hero of tall tales, "Hary Janos,"
uses a grand orchestral "sneeze" to comment on such stories as Hary
single-handedly defeating Napoleon in battle.

Besides the sneeze, Kodaly's music also contains some very wicked and
extremely difficult syncopation.

I am glad to report that George Cleve, the first guest conductor to lead
a subscription concert of the California Symphony in its 16-year history,
produced both a resounding orchestral sneeze and near-Hungarian grade
syncopation Sunday evening. It was as good a performance of the "Hary
Janos" Suite in the Dean Lesher Regional Center as I have heard live
anywhere outside Budapest.

To appreciate Cleve's accomplishment fully, it should be said that he
is only from neighboring Vienna, not the true homeland, and clearly he
was unwell on Sunday. Coughing - if not sneezing - on the podium through
most of the concert, Cleve looked in the grip of a very bad cold. And
yet, he took Barry Jekowsky's formidable band to new heights, ethnically
and musically, especially the latter.

An additional health report: principal violist Patricia Whaley became
ill just before the beginning of the concert and had to leave the stage.
Assistant principal Elizabeth Prior Runnicles moved into the first chair,
without a chance to rehearse the important viola solo that's at the heart
of the Suite's "Song" section - and yet she came through with an affecting,
flawless reading of that soaring, beautiful passage.

The entire concert, underwritten by Wells Fargo, well-attended by a
quiet, attentive, appreciative audience, was a joy.

Cleve put together an appealing program, consisting of one classic
(Mozart's Symphony No. 34) and three unusual selections: the Kodaly
Suite, the Overture to Barber's "The School for Scandal," and Rodrigo's
"Concierto Andaluz." Somewhere between heavy, challenging music and Music
for Dummies, the California Symphony offered a concert of enjoyable but
not "cheap" music.

Featuring the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, the concerto was the top
audience favorite. The personable foursome - John Dearman, William
Kanengiser, Scott Tennant and Andrew York - wooed listeners with dazzling
technique and sincere, heartfelt music-making.

The orchestra got through the opening Bolero movement in what sounded
like the evening's only under-rehearsed portion, picked up well with the
hushed Adagio, and kept space with the Allegretto. The quartet's response
to the enthusiastic audience was a percussive piece, based on African
music, called "Bantu."

The sparkling Barber overture had Cleve's best characteristics stamped
over it: solid balance between the sections (violins split downstage,
in the European manner) and a steady, forward-moving momentum.

The Mozart, "of course," was splendid, Cleve having obtained the right
that the excellence of his Mozart performance may be taken for granted.
He provided clear, secure leadership, and the orchestra responded
beautifully.

What makes Cleve's Mozart so appealing? The C Major symphony gave some
clues. With brass and woodwinds unwaveringly supporting the striking
first violin section performance, the opening Allegro came to a point
of some early Minimalism, the same note repeated several times. With
Cleve in charge, each repetition was different, the same note coming
through as fresh and vital, instead of the da-da-da from a lazy ensemble.

Visibly and audibly, the musicians follow the conductor when Cleve is
on the podium, eschewing the more comfortable (and less effective) way
of blending into their respective sections, following each other, as it
were.

For the entire duration of the symphony, there was an arc, a line of
tension, powerfully implemented in the martial sound of the first movement,
in the contemplative manner of the Andante, and in the robust, later
explosive forward motion of the Finale. It was "Cleve Mozart" at its
best: simple but not simple-minded, exuberant, even happy, but not noisy.

While the orchestra distinguished itself by a unified ensemble sound,
individual musicians still shined brightly at various times during the
concert: concertmaster Victor Romasevich, cellist Leighton Fong, oboist
Laura Griffiths, English hornist Bennie Cottone and clarinetist Frank
Renk among them. It was a grand time for the brass, led by Stuart
Gronningen (horn), John H. King and James F. Dooley (trumpet), Donald
W. Benham (trombone) and Forrest Byram (tuba).

They, and others, had a field day with "Hary Janos," a brilliant virtuoso
piece. It's a mystery why this work is not performed more frequently.

I missed a more passionate, gutsy sound in the Prelude, but Cleve is
not alone in avoiding too much drama in what is essentially a whimsical
piece.  The brass played wondrously well in the Viennese movement.

In the lyric sweetness of the Song movement, led by Runnicles' viola
and Jay Stebley's cimbalom, Cleve once again imposed some restraint, to
avoid gushing. The Battle with Napoleon (a kin to "Lt. Kije" and the toy
soldiers of "Nutcracker") crackled with both artillery and good humor,
James Dukey's saxophone closing out the movement with panache.

For the third time in the piece, Cleve pulled back just enough to save
the sweeping Intermezzo from too-muchedness. The concluding Entrance of
the Emperor, with its mock-Respighi bombast, sent a happy audience out
into the real world, with smiles broad enough to light up the night.

Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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