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A family affair
Crisp 18th century music
Sunday, September 25, 2005
By A. Michael NollLyrica Chamber Orchestra, Terry King (conductor), Andrew Eng, Laura Bossert, Paula Majerfeld, Bram Golstein (violins), Dongsok Shin (harpsichord). Vivaldi: Concerto "Alla Rustica" for strings, RV. 151; Vivaldi: Concerto for four violins and string orchestra, Op. 3, No. 10; Bach: Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041; Bloch: Baal Shem; Mozart: Divertimento for strings in D major, K. 136; Grieg: Suite from Holberg's Time, Op. 40. Presbyterian Church of Chatham Township.
The Lyrica Chamber Orchestra is a student ensemble of about 20 strings, conducted by Terry King with faculty member Laura Bossert as concert master. Both King and Bossert teach the students at the Longy School of Music in Boston. But do not be fooled, these students are clearly already professionals with fine ensemble playing richly revealed in the warm acoustics of the Chatham Township Presbyterian Church.
The Vivaldi Concerto "Alla Rustica" is only about four minutes long, consisting of three very short movements - but oh so richly varied in this performance with a "big" sound that left me salivating for more. King's conducting was brisk, as it should be for the Vivaldi, Bach, and Mozart. The Mozart Divertimento was written when Mozart was only 16 but already has the delightfully playful style that makes Mozart so unique and enjoyable - qualities which the orchestra clearly projected.
The Bach Violin Concerto was performed by Andrew Eng, a recent graduate of the Longy School of Music and the well-deserved winner of this year's Isabel Canepa Award, which was presented to him after the intermission. He and his colleagues in the orchestra were clearly "with it" as he energetically traversed the Bach, playing from memory.
Only the first two portions of the Bloch Baal shem were performed, again with intense and powerfully emotional playing by Eng. This work had a Spanish or Latin feel to it, although described in the program notes in terms of "Jewish" spirituality. The Holberg Suite, though very well played, could have been pushed a little more strongly. But perhaps the musicians were becoming tired, which happens when too many pieces are in a program and it becomes an attempt at a showcase.
The concert also included transcriptions by Terry King of Albéniz's Under the Palms and de Falla's "Farruca" from The Three-Cornered Hat. Arrangements are always challenging in that they should remind you of the original piece but not leave you thirsting after the original. To my ears, King's arrangement of the de Falla failed to capture the Spanish quality of the original, although his transcription was interesting academically. According to the program notes, his transcriptions were originally intended for a string quartet, so they might have worked better for an ensemble smaller than a chamber orchestra. These two arrangements could have been omitted, or just one used as an encore.
This concert was, as always, truly a "family affair" in that Lyrica was founded and is directed by Mariel Bossert, whose daughter Laura Bossert teaches at the Longy School, where her husband Terry King also teaches, and the performers in the Lyrica Chamber Orchestra are their students, But it is the audience who benefits from this family affair when the quality of the performances is so consistently high and the musicians so fine. Lyrica returns to its usual chamber format for the remainder of the season - its 19th.