Olmos Ensemble:
A superb flutist, new in town, goes to town
Sept. 18, 2008The Olmos Ensemble’s season opener, a largely French miscellany in First Unitarian-Universalist Church on Sept. 16, unveiled a superb talent in the form of flutist Hye Sung Choe.
Born and reared in Korea, Choe has been appointed principal flute of the San Antonio Symphony for the 2008-09 season. An extension beyond this season is possible, and eminently desirable. (Her predecessor, the estimable Tal Perkes, is in the midst of a career change, to architecture.)
Choe was the soloist in two very different works, both of which spun opulent, long-lined melody -- Philippe Gaubert’s sinuous Fantaisie for flute and piano (Brent Watkins), and Shulamit Ran’s angular “East WInd” for flute alone. In the Gaubert, heavily influenced by Debussy, Choe was the very soul of the French pulse. In the Ran, Choe compassed extended modern techniques -- and a stratospheric extension of the flute’s range -- with total ease. These were compelling, convincing performances, the work of a musician deeply into the music and able to pull the audience with her wherever she might lead.
In Jean Francaix’s delicious Quintet for winds, one of his most exuberantly witty scores, Choe also proved an uncommonly adept partner in chamber music. She showed an intuitive grasp of collaborative dynamics, always contributing just the right amount of flute color to the palette. Her splendid partners were Olmos veterans Mark Ackerman (oboe), Jeff Garza (horn), Sharon Kuster (bassoon) and Ilya Shterenberg (clarinet). The ensemble played with brilliant virtuosity in the finale’s hellzapoppin nuttiness.
Watkins was on his own in an agile, alert and beautifully shaded account of Maurice Ravel’s challenging “Jeux d’eaux.” It would be nice to hear a solo recital by Watkins, who lives and works in San Antonio while pursuing his doctorate in music at UT-Austin.
Ackerman and Watkins collaborated handsomely in Joseph Schwantner’s poignant, lovely “Black Anemones.” Ackerman, Kuster and Shterenberg opened the concert with an excellent performance of Joseph Canteloube’s folk-inspired “Rustiques,” whose playful outer movements sometimes anticipate the antics of that underrated American genius, Carl Stalling.
Mike
Greenberg
