Olmos Ensemble with Linda Poetschke
Gerswhin at the center
January 21, 2010Vocal and instrumental pieces by George Gershwin, superbly performed, held the center of the Olmos Ensemble’s Jan. 19 concert in First Unitarian Universalist Church.
Soprano Linda Poetschke’s ravishing accounts of Gershwin’s “Summertime” and “Our Love is Here to Stay” linger uppermost in the memory, along with her spirited treatments of “Fascinatin’ Rhythm,” “S’wonderful” and “I Got Rhythm,” strung together as an upbeat medley. The gorgeous, satiny gleam of her instrument combined with elegant technique -- mastery of the subtleties of colors, phrasing, articulation -- to put all these songs over in a way that was true to both the jazz and classical traditions.
Gershwin’s Three Preludes for piano appeared in new guise, a remarkable arrangement for piano and clarinet by James Cohn. The arranger’s insight was to recognize in the elaborate lines of the outer allegros and the languorous melody of the andante the influence of klezmer music (via the Yiddish theater) on Gershwin. Setting these lines on the clarinet brought that influence into focus. And one could not ask for a more natural and expert interpreter than clarinetist Ilya Shterenberg.
Pianist Kristin Roach was a responsive, stylish partner throughout the Gershwin sequence. In Mozart’s Sonata in E Minor, KV 304, Roach’s push-ahead rhythmic energy made a nice foil to the more laid-back and lyrical approach of oboist Mark Ackerman, playing the part originally written for violin.
The concert closed with Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio in G Minor, with the violin and cello parts played on oboe and bassoon. The central movements -- a scherzo, whose dance-like theme makes some interesting turns, and a gently flowing andante -- are the most successful, though there is much to like also in the eventful finale. In the first movement, however, the composer treated sonata-allegro form as a vessel to be filled rather than as the consequence of organic, novelistic development. The performance, by Roach, Ackerman and the estimable bassoonist Sharon Kuster, was well made.
Mike
Greenberg
