Orchestra rejuvenates Beethoven's Fifth in season's opening concert

Everyone at the edge of his or her seat. Silence. None of the string-plucking. None of the valve-clearing. None of the random drum-tapping. Silence. Concentration. Everyone's eyes on the thin white stick held by a man they all respect. Anticipation. Waiting for the sign. A tension, an eagerness, held back by the man on the podium. And as his arm pumps out the first beat, they respond with the most powerful of sounds. Beethoven's Fifth, the world's favorite symphony, comes to life.

"These kids fill me with admiration," Princeton University Orchestra maestro Michael Pratt says later, sitting with his legs crossed in front of his desk. "They are able to be so successful at what I ask of them, and what I ask is a lot."

Pratt's demands apparently have their benefits, though. Everyone in the orchestra wants to be there. This creates a strong group of musicians with absolute enthusiasm for the task at hand — preparing for their first concerts of the year, tonight and Saturday at 8 p.m. in Richardson Auditorium.

Enthusiasm for a frequently played piece — such as Beethoven's Fifth — is difficult to find outside of this setting. Orchestras around the globe have a tendency to go on what Pratt describes as "autopilot" when playing music belonging to the standard repertoire. The extremes are lost — pianos become mezzopianos, contrasts are not as evident.

Pratt encourages his students to forget how other musicians have played the symphony and concentrate on playing as if it were a premiere. For many orchestra members, however, the concert will be a premiere of sorts — this is the first time most members have played these pieces, and their energy gives new life to an old standard.

Instead of the dull, trite sound one might expect, the listener is met with unbelievably powerful music. The passion is contagious.

Pratt compares it to a first love. The technique might not be perfect, but the intensity is beyond description. And the intimate setting and immediate acoustics of Richardson Auditorium only heighten the experience, both for the musicians and the audience.

Pratt encourages those without any experience in symphonic music as well as die-hard classical music fans to come hear fellow students give their first concert of the year.

The program for this concert is a demanding one. But the current orchestra is up to the challenge. Last year, they performed more than before. Highlights of the season included a 10-day tour in Spain and a collaboration with the Princeton Shakespeare Company on "A Midsummer Night's Dream," with the complete incidental music of Felix Mendelssohn.

In addition to the Beethoven symphony, the orchestra will play four of Antonín Dvorák's "Slavonic Dances" and Paul Hindemith's "Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber."

Each piece requires a different skill: a detailed attention to technique in the Hindemith, a different form of musicality in the Dvorák and originality in the Beethoven.

And this orchestra has the musical talent and congruency to play all these works thrillingly.