Orchestra, soloist have fun with music linked to movies

Monday, April 11, 2005

Donald Rosenberg

Plain Dealer Music Critic

Whimsy often is a crucial element when the Cleveland Pops Orchestra gets down to business. At what other grown-up musical event could you hear both a red clarinet and a tiny red piano?

Those instruments were part of the Pops' "I Love a Piano" program Friday at Severance Hall. Music director Carl Topilow, sporting a nifty piano tie, played the red clarinet (and a regular black one earlier in the night). The toy piano was brought onstage by the evening's soloist, Rich Ridenour, who proceeded to sit on the stage floor for a nutty "Peanuts" version of Beethoven's "Fur Elise."

All of the music had ties to Hollywood or television, except for a daffy "Theme and Variations on Chopsticks" by a composer named Schlitz. This was one of those tangy Ridenour brews that blended the famous tune with beloved piano quotations.

Ridenour proved a punny and amiable guest, as eager to tear into the unusually tinny-sounding Steinway as he was to banter with the crowd. At one point, he invited a brave Pops-goer onstage to wear a fake nose and grunt as Pumbaa the Warthog as he played "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" (from "The Lion King") with sing-along help from the audience.

In Ridenour's extroverted hands, the popular selections tended to click better than the classical fare. The pianist was infectious in Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" and collaborating with Topilow on red clarinet in Gershwin's "Promenade," which included adorable leash-but-no-dog contributions from the sister-and-brother team of Alexis and Eric Floyd.

But Ridenour tended to sell Variation 18 from Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and Richard Addinsell's "Warsaw Concerto" too hard for these works' subtleties to register.

Topilow and the orchestra had most of the first half to themselves, and they were splendid in an array of colorful Hollywood scores. Among the highlights were a Simon and Garfunkel medley (from "The Graduate") and a suite of Howard Shore's music from "The Lord of the Rings," with Alexis Floyd as sweet soloist.

Between these pieces, the concert was transformed into something of a Carl and Bill Show as Topilow teased the audience with movie trivia questions, with inestimable assistance from WCLV FM/104.9's Bill O'Connell, who was seated in the audience. Much whimsy. Much fun.