Olmos Ensemble
Music of two worlds, off-kilter and on
September 24, 2009The Olmos Ensemble opened a new season, Sept. 22 in First Unitarian-Universalist Church, by exploring opposite poles -- Franz Schubert’s congenial Octet in F and Sergei Prokofiev’s pungent Quintet, Op. 39, both scored for strings and winds.
The Schubert is familiar territory, though infrequently visited because of its instrumentation and monumental length. The Prokofiev, one of the strangest and most astringent works of the Russian master, is something of a rarity, though the Olmos presented the work previously just three years ago.
Prokofiev derived his Quintet from music for a circus ballet, “Trapeze,” he had composed in Paris in 1924. The Russian emigré hypermodernist choreographer Boris Romanov -- he and Prokofiev were both born in 1891 -- commissioned the music for his impecunious Berlin-based dance troupe. The company having scant resources for musicians, Prokofiev scored the piece for the oddly balanced ensemble of oboe, clarinet, violin, viola and double-bass. (Apparently it isn’t true that there’s always room for cello.)
Prokofiev’s opulent Soviet-era ballets, “Romeo and Juliet” for the Kirov and “Cinderella” for the Bolshoi, were still far in the future. The Quintet, evidently reflecting Romanov's avant-garde tendencies, sounds like punk rock by comparison. Though Prokofiev’s lyricism is amply evident, the music is often intensely dissonant and raw-sounding, as though deliberately rejecting the luxurious fit and finish of the Romantic, industrial-era sensibility. Prokofiev’s wit and contrapuntal wizardry are also present, but subsumed to an abrasive surreality. It may be more important as a document of its period than as a representative of Prokofiev’s artistry, but it’s eminently worth hearing.
The performance was a trifle cautious in the early going and might have benefited from an extra rehearsal, though for the most part the playing was robust and spirited. The players were violinist Sayaka Okada, violist Matt Diekman, bassist Doug Balliett (who provided a lot of the musical punch), clarinetist Ilya Shterenberg and oboist Mark Ackerman.
Schubert’s Octet, pleasant as a fine afternoon in May, was given an elegant account. (No rejection of fit and finish here.) Violinist Bonnie Warner’s bright, clean tone and beautiful vibrato were especially welcome. She and Shterenberg held the lyrical center of the piece, while the estimable Balliet and cellist David Mollenauer provided the rhythmic drive. Okada, Diekman, hornist Jeff Garza and bassoonist Sharon Kuster were all splendid, as well.
Mike
Greenberg
