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March 9, 2009 - CLEVELANDCLASSICAL.COM Apollo’s Fire’s upcoming family concerts are titled ‘Stormy Weather: What happens when a baroque orchestra gets caught in a thunderstorm? The musicians play faster!’ We’re not sure if Sunday afternoon’s Donner und Blitzen affected the tempos of Jeannette Sorrell and her dozen string players, who were performing their fourth straight edition of ‘Virtuoso Fire’, but the moody swings in weather over the last few days must have had both the orchestra and oboe soloist Alex Klein fussing over their senstitive reeds and instruments. Sorrell constructed a fascinating program built around the notion of ambitious composers locked in competition and intrigue in early 18th century Venice, accompanied by lively program notes which revealed colorful flaws in some of their personalities. Antonio Vivaldi was the leading figure, represented by a movement from his Concerto in F for three violins, the Concerto in C for violin and two cellos, the d minor oboe concerto and an Apollo’s Fire favorite, the Concerto in b for four violins. Benedetto Marcello took the opening spot with his Concerto à 5 in F, Tomaso Albinoni contributed his d minor oboe concerto, and Jeannette Sorrell created an attractive and earthy pastiche called “Concerto Grosso alla Rustica” out of movements by Francesco Veracini and Vivaldi. Here was a program that allowed six soloists to step outside the ensemble and show off some fancy fiddling in a number of combinations. Violinists Julie Andrijeski, Johanna Novom, Adriane Post & concertmaster Cynthia Roberts and cellists René Schiffer & Caroline Bean did the honors, playing with style, virtuosity and taste. The orchestra stood throughout, allowing the performers to stay in close contact with Sorrell, who conducted from the harpsichord, and to interact in charming ways that brought smiles to faces in the audience. Guest artist Alex Klein proved to be as fluent on the baroque oboe as he is on its modern version, producing a mellow, blending tone and negotiating Vivaldi’s fireworks with aplomb, providing clever and tasteful ornamentation and embellishments where an 18th century audience would have expected them. If the Vivaldi concerto was a showpiece of virtuosity, the Albinoni was a treasurehouse of melody. Here, Klein’s gorgeous tone helped produce one of the most loveable performances of the afternoon, especially in the Adagio, when the strings retired into the background, the bass played pizzicato and harpsichord switched to the lute stop, casting the oboe line into the foreground. A humorous moment preceded the Albinoni, when Klein held up his music (the score of the Vivaldi) and said, “I think we’ve already played this one”, leading both soloist and conductor to dash offstage in search of the errant music. Sunday’s performance took place in the nearly full sanctuary of Rocky River Presbyterian Church, a quasi-round space with vast headroom which produced some curious acoustical effects. The performers seemed a bit muffled and far away during the first half of the concert (a look at the performing platform told the story: carpet!) One of the complications of moving concerts around among different halls is getting used to the idiosyncrasies of different rooms, especially when a short rehearsal or sound check gets done without people in the seats. Apollo’s Fire quickly adapted to the situation on Sunday, and balances and projection in the second half of the program improved markedly. The orchestra has a loyal following in the suburbs. The Rocky River audience received the performance warmly, and bravos were shouted out after many of the concertos. Under the circumstances, perhaps ‘bravas’ were in order — with two men and eleven women in the ensemble, Apollo’s Fire almost recreated Vivaldi’s famous female orchestra at the Pietà. |
