Music: Concerto in Ah

The program called it a concerto, but the soloist was a soprano. For 24 minutes, off & on, Margot Rebeil warbled wordlessly, while the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under plump Eugene Goossens wove strands of tone around her. Conductor Goossens was giving his audience not only a new work, but a new wrinkle in composition: a full-fledged concerto for voice and orchestra.

Its inventor is dark-goateed John W. Haussermann Jr., 32 (whose father, a wealthy Cincinnatian, owns three Philippine gold mines). The most commonly used solo instruments in concertos are the piano, violin and cello, and concertos have been written for other instruments: clarinet, horn, saxophone, even the double-bass. For the voice, composers have written vocalises (wordless songs), have included wordless voice parts in orchestral works, but hitherto have not essayed an out-&-out concerto.

Because of the human voice’s limited range and flexibility, Haussermann decided to lay most stress on variety of color. In one of the four movements the voice is used in a hushed, introspective mezzo voce; in another, in light coloratura vein. There are runs, trills, even a cadenza. Commented Conductor Goossens:

“Frankly, when the composer first mentioned it to me, I was skeptical of its possibilities. But it is extraordinary how really colorful its form is.”