ole Keith Lockhart calls for his fiddlers three

August 25, 2003 performance, reviewed by Dave Conlin Read

The final Boston Pops concert of the 2003 Tanglewood season featured a reprise of the 2002 prize-winning Evening at Pops performance of Chris Brubeck's Interplay for Three Violins and Orchestra, with Eileen Ivers, Regina Carter, and Lara St. John playing the Celtic, jazz, and classical parts respectively (Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg played the classical for the premier).

This is a wonderfully intriguing piece of music that is bound to become a staple of the Pops' repertoire and a favorite of all sorts of fans. Brubeck set out to "incorporate a bit of the violin styles one hears in various cultures," and Interplay gave these engaging young musicians an opportunity to not only show off their prowess within their own genres but also to have a blast improvising and trading licks.

Before merging eventually in a flamenco-flavored passage, the soloists delighted the audience indivdually: Ivers with her furious Celtic fiddling, Carter with her dulcet jazz tones, and St. John with her crystalline classical lines.

The evening's program had three sections allowing each soloist a couple of numbers before Interplay. Leading off was Ivers and her four piece band to play Immigrant Suite and The Blizzard Train, wherein the Bronx native, wearing a purple blouse over black jeans, displayed the virtuosity and personality that has made her the most-awarded competitor ever in the All-Ireland Championships; she is also a founding member of Cherish the Ladies, and formerly of Riverdance.

She began Immigrant Suite on an acoustic fiddle, then switched to her blue fiddle which was almost ablaze by the time she finished The Blizzard Train, her rambunctious rendition of an old Bluegrass tune she learned from legendary Tennessee fiddler Ralph Blizzard.

Next up was Regina Carter, in a pretty summer-colored dress, with a quartet to play Piazzolla's Oblivion and Gershwin's Lady Be Good, which showed her mastery of the instrument, from the incendiary to the soulful. Hailing from Detroit, Carter studied classical violin, including a stint at the New England Conservatory, but decided to go jazz after seeing Stephan Grappelli in concert.

Her decision has been endorsed by the guardians of Niccolo Paganini's legacy, who allowed her to became the first jazz musician and first African-American artist to play "the Cannon," his famous violin, which she used on her recent album, "Paganini: After a Dream."

And then the tall Canadian, Lara St. John, wearing a shimmering violet gown and accompanied only by the Pops, displayed her virtuosity and engaging stage presence with two pieces by Franz Waxman, Carmen Fantasie and Dance of the Cossacks.

A graduate of the Curtis Institute (at age 17) and the New England Conservatory, St. John has gained notoriety for flaunting her sexiness; tonight she seduced the audience with ineffably light clear tones on the Fantasie. But she also gave them a thrill on the second piece and left them laughing when she flopped her blond locks over her face and across her violin at the end of the ride.

Keith Lockhart and the Pops opened the evening with a Happy Birthday tribute to Leonard Bernstein, born 85 years ago today, and at the end of the concert, Eileen Ivers lead her fiddle mates and the audience in birthday wishes for Maestro Lockhart's son, born the day before.

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