THE Long Island Youth Orchestra may be only a few steps above a high school football marching band, but their concert on Saturday night had two virtues.
First, this was the opening concert of Gordon Wu Hall. Second, it made one appreciate the Asian Youth Orchestra.
The Hall, on the upper ground floor of BP International, Austin Avenue, is huge: more than 10,000 square feet, seating around 1,200 people. Acoustically, it needs a lot of doctoring, though. Loud sounds are deafening, but without resonance; low sounds in the darker strings can overcome the treble tones.
At its best, during the lean, sinewy tunes of Aaron Copland's Outdoor Overture, Gordon Wu Hall engendered transparent lines. During thicker textures, as in a Tchaikovsky theme and variations, sounds were badly blurred.
In the final Chabrier Espana, the loudest chords had a dull snapping quality, something akin to a bad sound system in a cavernous old movie theatre.
Hopefully, these problems will be solved in time. The problems of the Long Island Youth Orchestra may be insoluble.
The group gets its members from around 50 schools outside New York City, and its conductor for 32 years, Martin Dreiwitz, has taken them on summer tours for the past 24 years. As musical ambassadors of young America, they seemed charming enough.
But unlike the Asian Youth Orchestra, this group is badly - very badly - under-rehearsed.
It is one thing for Dreiwitz to understand phrasing, melody and (considering the shortcomings of the hall) balance. It is another for the raggedness of the orchestra.
For all his bodily encouragement, these musicians give the impression of having played together two or three hours a day for a few weeks. With one exception, their ecumenical programme - from Lehar to Gershwin, Weber to Saint-Saens - seemed patched together.
John Bade, the violin soloist, played the Saint-Saens Havanaise with enthusiasm, but weak intonation. Clarinet soloist Joseph Isadoa played the difficult Weber Concertino with a heavy embouchure and rather mechanical fingering.
Perhaps Dreiwitz, who studied with Wilhelm Furtwangler some four decades ago, was asking too much in interpretation, not enough in preparation and drill. For when the assistant conductor, Scott Stickley, took to the podium, the sound was totally different.
Stickley was not fun to watch. His baton gestures are academic, the tempos literally beaten into the orchestra.
But music is more auditory than visual. The Copland Outdoor Overture was played with accuracy, discipline and musical sense.
This is, of course, the beginning of music-making. The Asian Youth Orchestra had that from the start and it makes their concerts interesting and enjoyable. The Long Island Youth Orchestra may have fun on tour, but they lack the primary requisites of musical concordance.
The Long Island Youth Orchestra, Martin Dreiwitz and Scott Stickley, conductors; Gordon Wu Concert Hall, BP International, July 29
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