USC Symphony Plays Work by Bruckner

Friday night at USC’s Bovard Auditorium, as if the gladiatorial statue of Tommy Trojan outside were its inspiration, the USC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Lewis took on Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8 with no holds barred. The result was less a temple of reverent Teutonic mysticism and more an exciting Romantic symphony--one with a very long slow movement, that is. It was definitely a performance of which to be proud.

To be sure, the student body’s string section, though it was large (including 12 cellos and 10 double basses) and occasionally noble, lacked the depth of sound that comes from age and experience. It never produced a real pianissimo and was tinged with intonation problems around the edges.

But the woodwinds played superbly, particularly Andrew Lamy’s liquid clarinet; the brass contributed impressive weight and ringing tones; and the French horns provided unforgettable moments of incandescent glory in the slow movement. Most importantly, the orchestra as a whole had the physical endurance Bruckner’s massive symphonies require.

Using what he called “the Nowak edition of 1890,” conductor Lewis watched his troops carefully for occasional lost or inattentive souls, but never hesitated to encourage them to feel their oats and play for all they were worth (which, at such times as the fierce opening of the last movement, was plenty).