Symphony

Five conductors will be "Passing the Baton" of the Haddonfield Symphony during the orchestra's 39th season, which begins in October and continues through next May. Subscriptions are now available for the season, which will be heralded next Sunday by a concert featuring the symphony's String Quartet. The concert will be performed at 2 p.m. in the auditorium of Harvest Village, 114 Hayes Mill Rd., Atco. Tickets are $8, and are available by calling 753-2000. For 34 of its 39 years, the Haddonfield Symphony has played under music director Arthur Cohn.

Four months into this misbegotten concert season, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra still has no idea how long the music will last. The musicians have been playing without a contract since September, and no agreement is in sight. Short of cash and long on expenses, the symphony management decided earlier this year to slice seven weeks off its performance schedule to save some money. The first thing to go was the two-week winter pops series, slated to begin in January. On the bright side, the Musicians Guild is no longer contesting management's right to abridge the season.

In a week that includes the festive occasions of Purim and St. Patrick's Day, folks in Haddonfield have an added occasion to celebrate - Mayor John J. Tarditi Jr. has proclaimed the next seven days "Haddonfield Symphony Week. " Culminating Saturday in the Haddonfield Memorial High School auditorium with the annual "Pops Night at the Symphony" concert, the observance is a tribute not only to the musicians, but also to longtime music director and conductor Arthur Cohn, who announced his retirement this year.

Conductor Arthur Cohn commands the amateur musicians of the Haddonfield Symphony with an iron baton. As the maestro ascended the stage last week to lead the orchestra's rehearsal for its season-opening performance, violinists straightened up in their chairs and symphony staff clutched their clipboards to their chests. Cohn offered few pleasantries before signaling the musicians with a smart rap of his baton. Two weeks shy of 78, Cohn cuts a ferocious figure. Muscled and fit, he perspires like an athlete when he conducts.

Before Bernard Rands became the Philadelphia Orchestra's composer-in- residence two seasons ago, the post was held by his friend and colleague Richard Wernick. Wernick, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, still maintains ties with the orchestra, as a consultant for new-music projects. But he has said his reduced services at the Academy of Music allow him more time for the university and to compose. These days Wernick is working on a series of scores, including the finishing touches for the Carnegie Hall-commissioned concerto that pianist Lambert Orkis and the National Symphony will perform this season.

Daniel Hege, 31-year-old assistant conductor of the Baltimore Symphony, has been named music director of the Haddonfield Symphony. Hege was chosen after a year-long search for a successor to Alan Gilbert, who leaves Haddonfield after this season. Haddonfield, Hege said, was a logical next step for him. "I have been working with young orchestras, but I felt I was ready to work with a conservatory-level or higher orchestra. " Hege, a Denver native, studied oboe and earned degrees at Bethel College in Kansas and at the University of Utah.

When Chicago had its 150th birthday, the city went against all expectations by commissioning music to be played by the Chicago Symphony. The city government had never asked for a symphony all its own, and the Chicago Symphony has not distinguished itself in recent years by seeking new works to play. Nevertheless, the government's record of support for music was strong enough to make the commission both adventurous and logical, so the city set out to make musical history. The anniversary occurred in 1983, but the premiere of the Symphony No. 5 by Philadelphian George Rochberg did not take place until Thursday in Orchestra Hall.

Thirty-eight volunteer members of the semi-professional Haddonfield Symphony signed a petition last night expressing no confidence in the orchestra's management and board, thus sounding another sour note in a feud that has reverberated within the orchestra for more than a year. The expression of no confidence at last night's rehearsal undermines a reconciliation that both sides had been working on until recently, when the meetings broke off with each side blaming the other. Approximately 40 players of the 80-member orchestra are volunteers, with the balance made up of professionals and interns.

Shulamit Ran's work for orchestra is titled simply, Symphony, and while people are writing such works all the time, the use of that single word with no suggestion of its place in her catalogue lent an air of mystery to the premiere performance last night by the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Gary Bertini. This was not Symphony No. 1 or Symphonie Fantastique, but a work that, in her mind, expresses the form as it stands, in her imagination, at this moment: Symphony. Ran, a 41-year-old Israeli, has just been named composer-in-residence by the Chicago Symphony, the city where she has lived since 1978.

Music for and by young people is the focus of programs sponsored by the Haddonfield Symphony to be held the next three weekends at the Echelon Mall, Burnt Mill and Chews Landing Roads, Voorhees. The series of musical events revolves around the 33d Annual Haddonfield Symphony Solo Competition for Young Instrumentalists, a program in which musicians ages 16 through 25 compete for a $2,500 prize and the chance to perform in a concert with the symphony, said Michael Scolamiero, coordinator of the competition.