March 6, 2009 - THE PLAIN DEALER
Apollo's Fire presents virtuosos galore
by Donald Rosenberg

Competition among composers in 18th-century Venice appears to have been heated. Put it this way (in alphabetical order): Tomaso Albinoni vs. Alessandro Marcello vs. Benedetto Marcello vs. Antonio Vivaldi vs. Francesco Veracini.

Thank goodness for the enmity. It fueled creative fires that inspired a bounty of delicious music.

Apollo's Fire, the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra, took up the subject to winning effect over the weekend with its program, "Virtuoso Fire: Italian Concertos by Vivaldi & Rivals." The composers above - except for Alessandro, brother of Benedetto - proved themselves as music director Jeannette Sorrell led what amounted more to a celebration than a contest.

Vivaldi may be the most renowned of the group, but who could say that the dreamy slow movement of Albinoni's Concerto in D minor for Oboe and Strings, Op. 9, No. 2, is any less intoxicating than anything the more famous composer wrote? As performed to the lyrical hilt by guest oboist Alex Klein, the strings and harpsichordist Sorrell, Albinoni's lines floated from the heavens, with the soloist spinning phrases like an inspired opera singer.

Hearing Klein play Baroque oboe with such penetrating expressivity Saturday at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights was an exhilarating experience. Early in the decade, the Oberlin College faculty member was serving as principal oboe of the Chicago Symphony when he was stricken with dystonia. The neurological ailment ended his orchestra career but sent Klein on new artistic journeys.

He has triumphed as educator and occasional soloist. With Apollo's Fire, Klein gave the Albinoni a performance of exceptional elegance, agility and tenderness. He achieved similar magnificence in Vivaldi's Concerto in D minor for Oboe and Strings, RV 454, applying ornaments with subtle grace and savoring the music's sweetness and zest.

The program included a bevy of virtuoso opportunities for Apollo's Fire members. Marcello's Concerto a 5 in F major, Op. 1, No. 4, proved a succinct beauty for ensemble in the role of vivacious and refined soloist.

The rest of the night was largely Vivaldi, with a bit of Veracini thrown in for a bunch of very good measures in a Concerto Grosso alla Rustica that Sorrell devised fusing movements by the two V's. This stew featured three bold violinists - Johanna Novom, Adriane Post and (at the shift from Veracini to Vivaldi) Cynthia Roberts - and harpsichordist Sorrell.

In Vivaldi's Concerto in C major for Violin and Two Cellos, Novom, Roberts and violinist Julie Andrijeski alternated movements with individual flair, while cellists Rene Schiffer and Caroline Bean added sonorous life down below. The three violinists also thrust themselves into the earthy vibrancy of a movement from Vivaldi's Concerto in F major for Three Violins.

At night's end came one of Vivaldi's biggest hits, the Concerto in B minor for Four Violins, Op. 3, No. 10, which wove its energizing spell with Post joining the lively fray and Schiffer doing his blazing cello thing.