Camerata SA, Michel Dalberto, Nancy Zhou
Dvořák Festival: Bohemia calling
January 22, 2014With its well-programmed, expertly-rendered concert on January 19 at Christ Episcopal Church, Camerata San Antonio set a high bar of excellence for ensembles partnering with the San Antonio Symphony during its ongoing Dvořák Festival.
The ensemble's founders, cellist Ken Freudigman and violist Emily Freudigman, were joined by violinists Matthew Zerwick and Sayaka Okada to form the core quartet. They shared the stage with a pair of guest artists who had been soloists for the weekend's two Dvořák Festival-launching concerts. Pianist Michel Dalberto and violinist Nancy Zhou had each performed a concerto: the one for piano on January 17 and the violin concerto on January 18. Both appeared with Camerata under a special collaborative arrangement with the symphony.
One of the composer's most beautiful masterworks, the Second Piano Quintet, Op. 81, was the program centerpiece, preceded by a trio of richly melodic shorter scores.
First up were two pieces for cello and piano: “Silent Woods,” an arrangement of part of a piano four-hands score called “From the Bohemian Forest,” and the G-minor Rondo. Both pieces had been prepared as part of a “farewell” tour in 1892 before Dvořák left for New York City to assume a three-year directorship of the National Conservatory of Music.
With unfailingly opulent tone, Mr. Freudigman delivered confident, graceful readings, highlighted by finely polished Interplay with the piano during echo passages and dance-like segments. Mr. Dalberto proved an adept and intuitive chamber player, whetting our appetites for the quintet to come.
That whetting was further heightened with the captivating performance of the Romance, Op. 11 for Violin and Piano, featuring Ms. Zhou. Her tone was sweet yet robust, with impressive flexibility and secure intonation during the midsection's swirling up and down sequences and the finale's intricate embroidery. Throughout, Mr. Dalberto's partnership was deft and considerate.
Post-intermission came an elegant, nicely contoured account of the quintet. The piece is a clear reminder of Dvořák's creative genius. It brims with diverse, imaginatively treated themes and melodies, many drawn from Czech folk material. Ensemble was simpatico and especially flexible during the first movement, when a theme is playfully tossed back and forth among the musicians.
The slow movement's lovely dumka (Czech dance) was appropriately warm and expressive, contrasted with a cooler sound in the lively, quasi-whirligig Scherzo. The finale holds a little of everything, including a polka, all of which were offered with a near-palpable sense of fun. That feeling was clearly transmitted to the near-capacity audience, whose appreciative applause lasted for unusually long minutes.
Diane Windeler
The Dvořák Festival continues with various groups in various venues until the end of February. For details, check www.DvorakSA.org.
