Valley Star

Issue date: 12/14/05 Section: Valley Life

Media Credit: Melanie Saldaña BROGUE'S GALLERY - Dr. Robert Chauls conducts the Valley Symphony Orchestra for an evening of music inspired by Scotland.

All the way out in the parking lot Saturday night, you could hear the Scottish bagpiper's bellowing song, sort of a sonic beacon inviting you toward the Mainstage Theater, where the Valley Symphony Orchestra would perform, accompanied by Los Angeles Philharmonic first violinist Rochelle Abramson.

Inside the theater, nearly every seat was filled. The audience chatted and looked through programs, slightly restless. The 55-piece orchestra was already on stage, their instruments quietly chatting in anticipation of the show.

The lights went down and the audience applauded as artistic director and conductor of the Valley Symphony Orchestra, Robert Chauls stepped on the stage to introduce "Ode to Scotland."

The orchestra played flawlessly during the nearly two-hour performance. Among the night's selections were "Scotch Poem" by Edward MacDowell, Felix Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 3 in A and "The Hebrides Overture."

The Hebrides was particularly moving. It is an epic piece conceived, as Chauls explained, after Mendelssohn's first boat ride to Scotland during which he was inspired by the landscape and weather.

The romantic piece conjured images of an epic journey. It was filled with triumphant highs and soft, somber Lulls. Chauls' precise direction seemed to lead the way to a common destination.

The highlight of the night came when the orchestra was joined by Abramson. She took the lead in the performance of Max Bruch's "Scottish Fantasy." She stood at the front of the stage rocking and swaying as the fingers of her right hand danced about the neck of the violin. Her performance matched the intensity, complexity and nuance of the rest of the orchestra; the passages in Bruch's Fantasy stirred a range of emotions as would a good novel.

The audience showed their appreciation for Abramson with an ovation and a few of her fans handed her bouquets of roses before she exited the stage. At the end of the show the orchestra also received a well-deserved ovation for an excellent performance.

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