By Lyn Bronson
It is best to hear the Santa Cruz Symphony in Watsonville, rather than at the Santa Cruz Civic Center, where the acoustics are unclear, the piano sounds unrefined, and the seats are narrow and uncomfortable. Unfortunately these factors, combined with a blustery rainy downpour that inconvenienced arriving members of the audience, made for a less than satisfying evening last night as Maestro John Larry Granger presented the Santa Cruz Symphony in a program containing Rossini’s Overture to the Thieving Magpie, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with soloist Jon Nakamatsu, and Mendelssohn’s Incidental Music to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.â€
It was the Rossini Overture that came off the best in this concert, for Maestro Granger and the orchestra pushed all the right buttons and succeeded in charming us with some fine orchestral playing that made a fine effect.
