PERFORMING ARTS

Marc Cohn's "Walking in Memphis": You know the words. (By Bernhardt Kumsted)

Mark Cohn

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After hearing Marc Cohn's polished recordings, it's hard to believe that his smooth, strong vocals are not enhanced by studio wizardry. But Sunday night at the Birchmere, it quickly became apparent that the rich textures of Cohn's voice are quite natural. In fact, his voice was the highlight of the 90-minute show, especially on songs like "Ghost Train," with its sparse instrumentation drawing even more attention to Cohn's soulful singing.

Cohn's vocals and narrative ballads were instantly reminiscent of Van Morrison. He even made light of those similarities: On the Morrison sound-alike "Dig Down Deep," he jokingly slipped in a few lines of "Brown Eyed Girl." But Cohn took a break from crooning on the unreleased "Dance Back From the Grave," a passionate song about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that juxtaposed fiery choruses with nearly spoken verses.

After he sat down for his first song at the piano, a fan shouted out a request for his 1991 hit "Walking in Memphis." With a laugh, Cohn replied, " 'Memphis' is sort of a given at this point, don't you think?" He continued, "I don't even think I'm needed to play the song any more!" Several songs later, he indulged the request and confirmed his suspicion, allowing the audience to take over large parts of the singing as he leaned back and listened with a contented smile.

-- Catherine P. Lewis

NSO Summer Institute

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If the difficult takes a little while -- and the impossible a little longer -- then the assembly of a first-class semi-professional orchestra of 14-to-20-year-olds in three weeks is somewhere between difficult and impossible. But the National Symphony Orchestra Summer Institute put one together. The proof was in the orchestra's Sunday evening performance at the Kennedy Center.

The group needed a few minutes to warm up. Mendelssohn's "Hebrides" Overture was episodic and off-balance -- it sounded under-rehearsed -- although conductor Elizabeth Schulze effectively highlighted individual sections.

Everyone was in better form for the first movement of Henryk Wieniawski's Violin Concerto No. 2. Soloist Andy Liang, 15, won this year's Kennedy Center/NSO Summer Music Institute Concerto Competition, and it was easy to hear why: He plays with very a sweet tone, full command of runs, harmonics and double stops, and judicious vibrato. The Wieniawski movement starts deceptively simply, evolving into ever-greater complexity, and Liang handled it all with aplomb. Schulze kept the orchestral accompaniment unobtrusive, but with plenty of power when needed.

All that power was required for Tchaikovsky's most tightly knit and most artfully orchestrated symphony: No. 5 in E Minor. The young musicians played it with elegance, style and only momentary tonal imperfections. The astonishing beauty of the second movement's horn theme stood out; the third movement had lovely lilt and beautiful balance; and the finale was highly dramatic. Tchaikovsky is merciless to string players -- and, in this symphony, to everyone else. This youth orchestra proved itself fully equal to the composer's considerable demands.

-- Mark J. Estren