Music: Show Boat in Cleveland

In other days, it would have been called Gems from Show Boat. Ol’ Man River rolled in on the violas and bass clarinet.

A muted-trumpet statement of Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man led into a tricky blues section: four saxophones playing over pizzicato plunk-plunks in the strings. The wow-finale brought back Ol’ Man River for full symphony orchestra plus saxo phones, harmonica, banjo, guitar, organ, glockenspiel, tom-toms, bones, vibraphone, xylophone.

Shock-haired, Polish-American Artur Rodzinski, conducting the Cleveland Orchestra, last week had his packjammed audience humming with him. Everybody knew the music — from Jerome Kern’s classic musicomedy, Show Boat. Conductor Rodzinski, who rates the Show Boat music “true” and “great” U.S. song, last summer invited Composer Kern to give it the symphonic works. The result is called Scenario for Orchestra.