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By ROBERT MINER; Special to The Times Leader
Sunday, February 16, 1997     Page:

WILKES-BARRE — In its latest Pops Series concert, the Northeastern
Pennsylvania Philharmonic offered “Sweetheart Serenade,” a program of romantic
music selected by music director Hugh Keelan especially for Valentine’s Day
weekend.
   
The orchestra’s lush performances of love songs wooed a full house Saturday
evening at the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts. Music varied from
grand opera to a John Philip Sousa march, from film music in David Lean epics
to popular Disney animated flicks.
    The program began with a powerful performance of Henry Mancini’s “Moon
River” from the film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”
   
The main theme from Lean’s epic film “Lawrence of Arabia” created an image
of winds blowing over the desert sands. The score was the first of three
medleys from Lean epics composed by Maurice Jarre. The centerpiece of the
musical portrait was a stunning rendering of tunes from “Dr. Zhivago.” And the
last was an exciting interpretation of music from “A Passage to India.”
   
The orchestra delighted the audience with its gentle interpretation of Sir
Edward Elgar’s “Salut d’amour” (“Love’s Greeting”), a piece that featured a
short but sweet oboe solo in the high register played well by David Snyder.
   
The orchestra’s interpretation of the “Love Theme” from Nino Rota’s score
for “The Godfather” was filled with beauty and sadness. Morton Gould’s
arrangement for orchestra of Edvard Grieg’s “Ich liebe dich” (“I Love You”)
was glorious with its muted brass, gentle strings and delicate plucking on the
harp.
   
Albert Ketelbey’s “Love’s Awakening” was a pleasant surprise. Ketelbey, a
composer known for writing novelty music, used some clever orchestration in
this piece. He creates a lovesick feeling by having the violins play in the
high register while the cellos and basses play the lower notes. All the while
the violas do nothing but sit and listen, thus creating an empty stomach
feeling.
   
Another highlight was Christopher Palmer’s arrangement of a fantasy for
orchestra of tunes from Giacomo Puccini’s opera “La Boheme.”
   
The opera-without-words fantasy began with delicate strings recalling
Mimi’s entrance in the opera’s first act to the Bohemians’ garret.
Concertmaster Erica Kiesewetter’s delicate violin solo and Barbara Hopkins’
sweet flute solo to Rudolfo’s beautiful tenor solo from Act I were touching.
And the brass section added zest to Musetta’s famous waltz from the “Cafe
Momus” scene bringing the fantasy to an exhilarating conclusion.
   
The orchestra’s snappy rendering of Vincent Youmans’ “Tea for Two” could
have transformed the staid into soft shoe dancers. And some of the younger
parents in attendance probably found it hard to resist humming along to Bruce
Healy and Gordon Goodwin’s arrangement of tunes from Disney films, such as
Tchaikovsky’s “The Sleeping Beauty Waltz” from “Sleeping Beauty,” “A Whole New
World” from “Aladin” and “A Tale as Old as Time” from “Beauty and the Beast.”
   
It was a concert with something for nearly everyone and their valentine.
   
Review