Wheeling Symphony Orchestra
Josh Devlin, conductor
Madeline Adkins, violin
Capitol Theatre
Wheeling, WV
February 8, 2025

Jackfert: Foggy Moon Over the Gorge
Lincoln-DeCusatis: The Maze
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36

Legendary as the US national park system is, there isn’t all that much music directly inspired by it (Grofé’s Grand Canyon and Death Valley suites, Messiaen’s From the canyons to the stars – am I missing any others?). Saturday afternoon’s performance by the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra celebrated the wonders of the park system with two recent additions to the list, acknowledging West Virginia’s own New River Gorge and Utah’s Canyonlands.

A native of Charleston, WV, composer Matthew Jackfert cites a late-night drive over the Glade Creek Bridge just outside of New River Gorge as inspiration for Foggy Mountain Over the Gorge, a seven-minute essay that artfully captures its striking scenery (an excerpt may be heard here). Colorful, individualistic writing painted the foggy nightscape, a lovely homage to the natural beauty of the composer’s home state.

In an effort to reach out to the community at large, local students were asked to create art inspired by West Virginia’s scenery, on display in the theater’s ballroom and projected onstage during the performance of Jackfert’s piece. In addition, the WSO was enhanced by string students from the Wheeling Symphony Youth Orchestra performing side-by-side.

Moving matters westward was The Maze, a 2021 violin concerto by Nathan Lincoln-DeCusatis, inspired by the titular formation in Canyonlands. Written for Madeline Adkins, concertmaster of the Utah Symphony, she served as a commanding soloist here in Wheeling as well. In his prefatory remarks, the composer explained that the soloist serves as a lone explorer of the canyon, and the orchestra represents the landscape itself. A kaleidoscopic chord opened and would recur throughout, serving as a re-orienting signpost amidst the labyrinthine walls of the craggy canyons. Adkins was almost in perpetual motion, as if a particularly enthusiastic explorer, and a dazzling cadenza heralded a final push to the close.

Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony rounded off the program with a mainstay of the repertoire. An arresting brass fanfare opened, and music director Josh Devlin guided the orchestra through the vast swath of the expansive first movement with a keen sense of direction and purpose. A languid oboe solo marked the slow movement, and one was particularly struck by the richness of the strings, with inflections of Russian folk music. In an almost solely pizzicato affair, the strings exerted control and precision during even the softest moments of the scherzo. Bombastic as it was, the finale capped the work off with vigor, not excess.