Review
| Grand Rapids Press |
| SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2005
| Jugglers add light note to symphony
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Talk about upstaged!
The Flying Karamazov Brothers were up, over and around the Grand
Rapids Symphony on the DeVos Performance Hall stage Friday night,
sometimes leaving the stunned orchestra members laughing in their wake.
The quartet of talkative jugglers, who appeared with the orchestra
in 1998, kept up a snappy pace for the hourlong second half of the
show, always doing more than just juggling.
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opening number, a variation on Gilbert and Sullivan's "I am the Very
Model of a Modern Major General" from "The Pirates of Penzance,"
featured the foursome keeping a dozen pins in the air while rotating
around the floor singing their own witty lyrics, "We are the Very Model
of Modern Vaudeville juggling Troupe."
But perhaps the most inventive juggling piece was accompanied
simply by the ticking of a metronome. The jugglers sat around a long
table rolling .and bouncing balls to each other, playing a simple tune
from the beat of the balls against the table.
Howard Jay Patterson, who is called Ivan in the show, and partner
Paul "Dmitri" Magid, inspired applause from the large crowd of about
1,800 when they managed to play the marimba with juggled mallets while
singing "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles," dancing a little soft-shoe and
chewing gum. Dmitri's gum actually got away from him in the final
bubble and shot out into the audience, in a rnoment that rivaled the
Grossology exhibit at the Van Andel Public Museum.
But the "brothers" showed they could play more music than basic
percussion. Mark "Alexei" Ettinger proved his prowess with the baton
leading the orchestra for two pieces. The second, Concerto No. 9 in Bb
Major by Luigi Boccerini featured Ivan doing a pretty impressive job on
the euphonium.
Sometimes the group's silliness wasn't that funny or melodic, such
as The Polish-Appalachian Clog Dance, but when they stuck to their
forte - juggling - the performance was mesmerizing.
The orchestra set the scene for a lighthearted evening with a
30-minute opening segment featuring music by mostly Russian and Czech
composers on a circus theme.
The evening opened with Julius Fucik's bright and brisk "Entrance
of the Gladiators," which is familiar to even the youngest members of
th audience as announcing the circus. Youngsters also will recognize
the second piece, Dimitry Kavalevsky's "Comedian's Gallop," a theme
from Saturday morning cartoons.
But the highlight of the opening set was "Flamingo" by University
of Michigan composer Michael Daugherty, who has created a concerto for
two tambourine players. Percusionists David Hall and Bill Vits dressed
in pale pink tuxedo jackets to show off all the many ways to coax music
out of tambourines - stroking the rim, shaking, taping with fingers,
knees and even another tambourine.
The evening was a perfect reminder that serious music isn't always serious.
Grand Rapids Symphony
Guest Artists: The Flying Karamazov Brothers Conductor: John
Varineau See it: 8 tonight, 3 p.m. Sunday at D.eVos Performance Hall.
Tickets: $17-$54 through Ticketmaster locations, 456-3333 or online,
www.ticketmaster.com
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