By Nicole Hamilton
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Ottorino Respighi wrote the finale of his Pines of Rome, "Pines of the Appian Way," to include brass sections playing off stage - and extra on stage as well.

At Friday night's Cincinnati Pops concert in Music Hall, extra players were called in from the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music Brass Choir and the Cincinnati Brass Band.

The fanfare is so fantastic, so triumphant and glorious, that it's hard to imagine any music that follows it could be as compelling. Unless, of course, the music is coming from the classical guitar of virtuoso Christopher Parkening. Onstage Friday, he proved his performance was the real pinnacle of the evening.

The classical guitarist, widely recognized as the successor to the legendary Spanish master Andres Segovia and twice nominated for Grammy Awards, performed Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez with colorful lyricism.

The mark of a good musician is one who can transport the listener - take them on a journey. In his performance, Parkening did just that for the audience.

The first movement, "Allegro con spirito," revealed Parkening's impassioned, fluid style of playing. He communicated well with Maestro Erich Kunzel and the rest of the orchestra - smaller for the concerto. He listened intently as several orchestra members took solos, and sometimes played with his head resting on his guitar.

His interpretation of the second movement, "Adagio," was elegant and filled with languid strumming, its simple melody clear and profound.

After the concerto, Parkening quickly launched into an encore - a piece he discovered in Instabul - Carlo Domeniconi's "Koyunbaba" which is played with strings tuned to C sharp minor.

The work included intricate patterns played fast, almost trancelike. He moved effortlessly through the exotic work revealing excellent technique.

The concert opened with Dmitri Shostakovich's Festive Overture, Op. 96 followed by Johann Sebastian Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor.

Both works showed excellent balance in the string sections - especially Bach's passacaglia - in which the bass section plays a continuous melody that the rest of the orchestra then builds upon.

Jaromir Weinberger's "Polka and Fugue" from the opera Schwanda, der Dudelsackpfeifer was performed with a heightened intensity (via Kunzel's direction), whereas Sir Edward Elgar's "Nimrod" from the Enigma Variations, Op. 36 was a welcome softer moment in the program.

The extra brass sections were back after intermission for assistance in Giuseppe Verdi's Grand March from Act II of Aida.

Kunzel's arrangement allowed for short breaks in the music which added to the excitement of the work. But several members of the extra brass sections were noticeably out of tune in several spots.

Such pieces as Respighi's "Pines of the Appian Way"and the Grand March from the spectacular Aida seemed an odd match for the subdue, elegant playing by Parkening.

More guitar and less brass would have made the evening truly soar.

E-mail nhamilton@enquirer.com