San Francisco Classical Voice

In a concert titled "Zephyrus Afresh," the Artaria Quartet and three guest wind soloists blew a few cobwebs off some much-loved music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. They did this with sounds ranging from comical to sublime in their all-period-instruments program at Hertz Hall last Wednesday — part of the Berkeley Festival and Exhibition.

Perhaps no one other than Richard Strauss matched Mozart's gift for writing fluid and graceful music for the French Horn. With a valveless period instrument, R.J. Kelley made great use of Mozart's sensitivity toward the instrument in the Quintet for horn and strings, K. 407.

Kelley handled this notoriously unmanageable instrument with a great sense of timing and flow. Even when notes didn't sound clearly or pitches strayed from their target — which was fairly often, actually — he remained sensitive to the line and meaning of the music. The middle Andante in particular was a beautifully paced aria. Kelley's tone was dark and warm, blending easily with the string quartet while never losing its status as the solo voice.

Toward the end of the final Allegro Kelley even drew some laughs from the audience by bringing the music to a stop with a one-note cadenza and a short silence in the space of the usual solo elaboration. Whether it was a joke or an impromptu capitulation to the demands of the piece didn't matter. Kelley's sense of timing and direction was masterful and the brief stillness proved memorably funny.

In the Quintet in C minor for Oboe and Strings, the solo instrument was less of an issue than the instrumentation. The piece is Mozart's own reworking of his Serenade for winds, K. 388. In its original octet version the piece has magnificent and original sonorities. But the breathtaking writing for this combination leans undeniably toward the first oboe part for its melodic charm. Hence, in this quintet version Mozart had no trouble leaving the first oboe part nearly (or maybe exactly) as is while rearranging the others for string quartet. The result is a piece that is relatively colorless compared to the original Serenade. The oboist must work much harder to blend in with the strings than in, say, the Oboe Quartet, K. 370, which is more of a solo vehicle for the wind instrument.

Despite my overall disappointment with the piece as arranged here, it has undeniably beautiful melodies and the Artaria Quartet, with oboist Marc Schachman, managed it very well in this performance. The ensemble had all the necessary incisiveness to maintain the Serenade's infectious spirit. Meanwhile, Schachman's playing had subtle but rewarding flair for the special moments in the solo part while retaining rock-solid discipline in rhythm and intonation. His robust tone was-woody yet with a noticeable grain that produced much sweetness. It blended marvelously with his companions. In turn the strings gave the Serenade some extra fine attention to dynamics and accents and played with lovely intimacy and lightness in the quiet passages — one of the principal benefits of this arrangement.

By far my favorite performance on the program, however, was the Quintet in A, K. 581, featuring basset clarinetist Erich Hoeprich. In a way, the use of period instruments made little difference. Hoeprich's gorgeously pure clear tone, like those of the horn and oboe, blended magically with the Artaria's strings. But this is not unusual to hear from a good modern clarinet, an instrument with great flexibility and dynamic range. Nor did I detect much difference between the range of this instrument and the modern clarinet in this piece (maybe one or two low notes wouldn't be reachable on the newer version of the instrument). Rather, Hoeprich and his colleagues refreshed this well-worn music with impeccable intonation, light and clear articulation, and a sense of the adventure in the music.

Hoeprich and the Artaria made the divine Larghetto movement soar in a slightly quicker tempo than usual, and the Menuetto had undeniable pizzazz. Each variation in the last movement was a poetic gem, with exceptionally fine solos from the quartet (in this configuration with Anthony Martin and Katherine Kyme, violins; Elizabeth Blumenstock, viola; and Elizabeth Le Guin, cello). All night the quartet played alertly and sweetly, but in this, one of Mozart's greatest works, they gave their parts an individual stamp and a satisfying group synergy. No cobwebs were left when they were finished.

(Jeff Rosenfeld is an oboist with the Kensington Symphony, West County Winds, and Pacific Wind Ensemble. He is a freelance science journalist and author of the recent book Eye of the Storm: Inside the World's Deadliest Hurricanes, Tornadoes, and Blizzards.)

©2002 Jeff Rosenfeld, all rights reserved