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Conductor Cottis, CSO Catch Fire with Lesser-Known Works

By Larry Toppman, WDAV-- 

Each guest conductor in this Charlotte Symphony Orchestra (CSO) season must be considered a candidate for Christopher Warren-Green's job, once he steps down as music director this summer. So what they conduct may be as revealing as how they conduct it.

Jessica Cottis led the CSO through four pieces Friday at Knight Theater, all from the last 100 years and three unknown to most of the audience and probably many of the musicians. The orchestra responded with vital, colorful performances across a wide range, from Ravel's glittering piano concerto in G to Stravinsky's galumphing "Circus Polka: For a Young Elephant."

She saved the longest and best for last: Kurt Weill's "The Seven Deadly Sins," where the players romped through bits of symphonic swooning, parodies and Broadway-style tunes. Whatever Cottis may be like in Romantic Era works that make up so much of the CSO's repertoire, she's firmly at home in music of the 20^th century.

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