April 30, 2016 Two of the San Antonio Symphony’s own principals took center stage as the top-drawer dual soloists in Mozart’s Flute and Harp Concerto under Canadian guest conductor Jacques Lacombe, April 29 in the Tobin Center.  For principal flute Martha Long, the concert was a sort of swan song — as I noted a couple of weeks ago, she moves to the Oregon Symphony in Portland next season. Her luscious, robust tone and flexible phrasing, fully evident in the Mozart concerto, will be greatly missed hereabouts. Principal harp Rachel Ferris, happy to report, will continue her assertive, rhythmically astute plinking and plunking in San Antonio. The two made a splendid, mutually supportive team, especially in the elaborate cadenza of the final allegro. (This notably idiomatic cadenza was  composed by the contemporary flute virtuoso Robert Stallman.) And the sound of both instruments carried beautifully up to the balcony in the H-E-B Performance Hall.   The rest of the program was Czech, with colorful orchestral works by the Bohemians Bedřich Smetana and Antonín Dvořák and the Moravian Leoš Janáček. Granted, not muchcolor came through in Mr. Lacombe’s gray, squarish account of Smetana’s  “Šárka,” from Má Vlast, but there was much to like in the conductor’s crispleadership of a two-movement suite (arranged by Václav Talich) from Janáček’s opera The Cunning Little Vixen and the closing work, Dvořák's mostly-lighthearted "Scherzo capriccioso.”  Janáček was among the 20th century’s greatest opera composers. His brilliant orchestrations and biting folk rhythms, both nicely on display in this performance, reliably please audiences. It’s odd — especially considering the importance of Czech immigration to Central Texas — that none of his operas have been staged in San Antonio in the past 30 years, at least. Maybe this orchestral sample will help stir the pot.  The week began, April 24 in the concert hall at the University of the Incarnate Word, with a Russian program by Camerata San Antonio’s superb string quartet joined by the astonishingly adept pianist Viktor Valkov. Aleksander Borodin’s tuneful String Quartet No. 2 opened the show in luxurious style; violinist Matthew Zerweck’s pointed phrasing in the famous melody of the Nocturne sticks especially in the memory.  After intermission came Sergey Taneyev’s Piano Quintet in G Minor, a work whose reach for greatness exceeds its grasp. A student of Tchaikovsky’s, Taneyev had ample technical chops as a composer, but evidently not much to say. This Piano Quintet is a big piece, lasting about 45 minutes, and it makes immense demands on the pianist — piece of cake for Mr. Valkov, whose agility, accuracy and stamina seemingly are unbounded. There is much charm in the sparkly, mercurial second movement, a scherzo. The slow third movement is a passacaglia whose repeated descending statement on the cello palls before the movement is done. The opening and closing movements are densely textured, over-complicated and filled with dramatic moments that seem emotionally sterile. No complaints about the powerhouse performance, however, with Anastasia Parker (violin), Emily Freudigman (viola) and  Ken Freudigman (cello) joining Mr. Zerweck and Mr. Valkov.  I will complain, however, about the newly refurbished concert hall’s electronic resonance enhancement. As set for this concert, there was too much gain, and loud low notes on the piano or cello produced noticeable rumbles from the loudspeakers. The system sounded less obtrusive for Camerata’s previous concerts in this hall.  Mike Greenberg     

Rachel FerrisPhoto:  Susan Riley

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Martha Long

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Mozart, three Czechs, and two Russians

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San Antonio Symphony, Camerata San Antonio