It’s unusual to see “top 40” and “classical music” in the same sentence, but that doesn’t mean the venerable genre is without a hierarchy of hits.
On the contrary. So popular are some classical tunes that they are heard everywhere from television commercials to weddings. A few have even become musical cliches.
Typically, in planning programs, classical groups try to steer clear of the latter entirely, judiciously mixing one or two classics with new and less frequently heard works for variety’s sake.
But Friday evening, the Colorado Symphony attacked classical music’s hit parade head on. The concert, titled “Classical Top 40,” featured a countdown of nine of the genre’s best- known pieces, but who was counting?
On any other night, mixing Johann Pachelbel’s “Canon in D” with Richard Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” or Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” with the “Toreador Song” from Georges Bizet’s “Carmen” would have seemed ridiculous.
But in this context, it worked just fine.
There is no authoritative ranking of classical hits. Resident conductor Scott O’Neil did not explain how he arrived at his Top 9, but it was hard to quibble with his picks. They were all obvious favorites.
Friday evening was part of the symphony’s new “Inside the Score” series, a lineup of informal, commentated concerts that are meant to be an approachable alternative to traditional, two-hour Masterworks programs. And as the nearly sold-out audience made clear, the format seems to be working.
O’Neil affably supplemented the music with quotes, anecdotes and pop-culture references, even getting the audience to split up and sing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” to demonstrate how a round, a type of canon, works.
He slipped some musical teaching in elsewhere as well, having the orchestra demonstrate the differences among such related forms as the waltz, scherzo and minuet, and explaining how the “ricochet” bowing technique is used in the Overture to Gioacchino Rossini’s “William Tell.”
Though it was just a one-off concert, for which there was probably little rehearsal, the ever-professional symphony musicians turned in a typically solid, energetic performance.
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
