February 9, 2019
The Olmos Ensemble opened the week with a generous mix of Romantic and Modern works, Feb. 4 in Laurel Heights United Methodist Church. Then guest conductor-harpsichordist Jeannette Sorrell, artisic director of the highy regarded baroque ensemble Apollo’s Fire, fronted the San Antonio Symphony in the complete J.S. Bach'scomplete Brandenburg Concertos,
Feb. 8 in the Tobin Center.
Although the Brandenburgs are among Bach’s most perennially popular works, modern symphony orchestras don’t often perform them as a complete package. They are scored for chamber-sized forces, giving most of the musicians a night off; the varied instrumentations require awkward pauses to rearrange seating; and they demand orchestral soloists who are top-grade virtuosos and expert in baroque performance practice.
Happily, terrific solo work abounded in this performance. Concertmaster Eric Gratz was masterful in the Fifth, Third and Fourth concertos, heard on the second half. Clearly adept in baroque style, he played without vibrato, but not without character – he brought a subtle frisson to sustained notes. Associate concertmaster Sara Silver Manzke, who took the violin solos in the first half, melded her warm tone beautifully with principal oboe Paul Lueders and principal flute Mark Teplitsky in No. 2, which also showcased some impressive work by Daniel Taubenheim in the high trumpet part. In No. 6, visiting specialists Cora Harnish and Karen Hall took the viola da gamba parts – that’s a six-string fretted instrument held between the knees like a cello, but from a different family.
Ms. Sorrel, conducting from a two-manual harpsichord, brought dazzling virtuosity and highly personal tempo rubato to the spectacular solo in No. 5. A second (unidentified) harpsichordist played continuo on a single-manual instrument, although Ms. Sorrell also sometimes shared continuo duties. Apart from too-fussy tempo rubato in the adagio of No. 1 and a draggy adagio in No. 6, she led generally brisk and aptly flexible performances. Alas, the first half was beset by persistent ensemble problems; the second half was much cleaner.
The Olmos Ensemble’s program had a generally luxurious disposition. The bookends were two work that often travel together because of their unusual instrumentation – the Brahms Horn Trio and Charles Koechlin’s Quatre Petites Pièces, both given burnished accounts by Jeff Garza (horn), guest artist Patti Wolf (piano) and Mr. Gratz, who also serves as the ensemble’s artistic director. Ilya Shterenberg (clarinet) and Ms. Wolf showed an excellent grasp of Robert Schumann’s overflowing passions in his Fantasy Pieces, Op. 73. Francis Poulenc’s late Improvisation No. 15 in C Minor, a solo piano tribute to Edith Piaf and the kinds of songs she sang, was beautifully shaped by Ms. Wolf. Franz Strauss’ agreeable if slight Nocturno for horn and piano continued the Poulenc’s salon-y feeling.
The concert was most memorable for Berg’s Adagio for Violin, Clarinet and Piano, the composer’s own reduced arrangement of the second movement from his Chamber Concerto. This is a very substantial piece, which (as Mr. Shterenberg noted in his remarks to the audience) is Romantic in feeling despite its lack of a tonal center. Mr. Gratz’s performance was meticulous in phrasing and pitch – all the way up to a stratospheric note that probably is more audible to dogs than to humans – but also fully in touch with the work’s depth of feeling. Mr. Shterenberg and Ms. Wolf maintained a cooler demeanor that made a fine foil to the violin part.
Mike Greenberg
Jeannette SorrellPhoto: Roger Mastroianni
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From Berg to the ’Burgs
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SA Symphony, Jeannette Sorrell; Olmos Enemble