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CHAMBER ORCHESTRA REVIEW
December 16, 2004
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By Jeff Rosenfeld
Amid the slew of Christmas concerts programmed this time of year, it was particularly difficult to figure out what New Century
Chamber Orchestra meant by scheduling “A Baroque Holiday” last week. What exactly makes Baroque music a “holiday” style? Why this,
of all holiday seasons? No answers were forthcoming, especially not with a rather ordinary selection of familiar concerti. On the
other hand, this was a great way to bring an eager crowd into church — in Thursday's case the ever-attractive and welcoming
St. Johns' Presbyterian Church. What the Berkeley audience heard was satisfying within narrow parameters — spirited if
unvaried. Somehow the concert even met a few of the requisites for celebrations this time of year: some sweet treats, a thoughtful
gift, and good company among them.
New Century served up the confections right from the start, with the “Air” from Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3. The strings, led by
music director Krista Bennion Feeney, strove for a middleweight modern sound, with only a few key nods toward Baroque practice—
reduced vibrato, relatively modest dynamic swells on long notes, and a relaxed, singable pace. They didn't fail to make this
familiar chestnut delicious. Nearly as successful, among the popular standards, was Handel's Concerto Grosso in F (Op. 6 No. 2),
which maintained the same stylistic compromises with a pleasantly jaunty feel.
As a string ensemble, New Century sounds particularly good when it plays softly, which, in the case of the other concerti, wasn't
often enough. The fuller the orchestra sounded, at least in this repertoire, the more uneven it became: not bad at all, just not
uniform from player to player, not always light or pointed enough to bring the Baroque alive. The net result, in a small ensemble
of fine players like this, is a pleasing sonority but not a distinctive, subtle, or penetrating unanimity. The overwhelming
impression is of a party of really good friends, rather than a corporate identity. Perhaps that's just right for a holiday
celebration, anyway.
More impressive is when the orchestra serves something unusual, turning attention on the music rather than ensemble perfection. In this concert the new and special gift was from oboist Gonzalo Ruiz. Ruiz put together a “seventh Brandenburg,” calling it Bach's “Concerto Grosso in D major” for two oboes, bassoon, strings, and continuo. The three movements are cobbled together from three separate works of Bach. As if that weren't generous enough, Ruiz, and second oboe Alina Plourde proved superbly matched on modern instruments, both in sound and approach. Meanwhile, in the third movement (from the Orchestral Suite No. 4), bassoonist Dennis Godburn fit in superbly as the rewritten “third” oboist, his effortless sound blending in surely and sweetly with his partners (as he did all evening, often in the continuo role). This concerto made a nice surprise stocking stuffer, but then it's hard to miss with the Sinfonia from Cantata No. 42 as an opener, or the eloquent opening of the Easter Oratorio as a middle movement. None of these familiar items really needs to be recycled into a new work. Ruiz might have served us better by reconstituting neglected works, but this is the holidays, after all, and a meal of traditional favorites seemed satisfying enough in the moment. On Baroque oboe, however, Ruiz proved even more at home than on the modern instrument. In Tomaso Albinoni's Oboe Concerto in D minor (Op. 9, No. 2), his playing was fluid, with a sound that is particularly lovely for its simplicity and lean warmth. So many Baroque oboists favor a muddier, fruitier sound, whereas Ruiz has tremendous control over the woollier aspects of the instrument. His fingers flew lightly across the generous ornamentation, as well. If only the strings had not covered him up quite so much in the outer movements, it might have been an absolutely perfect performance.
Without applying more volume than Ruiz did on the oboe, the cello duo of Robin Bonnell and Joanne Lin managed to penetrate their colleagues' sound more easily. The brio of their performance in Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto in G minor was the evening's highlight. Again, it was the sense of good company — a perfect match of dynamics and lightness — that won out, enabling Bonnell and Lin to turn the topsy-turvy back and forth of the solo parts into a joyous repartee. Less well matched were the quartet of violinists in Vivaldi's Concerto in B minor for four violins. Each of the soloists — Michael Yokas, Anna Presler, Deborah Tien Price, and Robin Mayforth — was up to the task, but some were just a shade more intense or biting in articulation than the others. The perfect seamlessness this motoric music requires wasn't really there, but it was very close, making an exciting performance and a festive close to the concert. On a slate filled to the brim with concerti, the only literally appropriate item on the program was a collection of six Christmas carols arranged for instrumental ensemble by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. “Noels Pour les instruments” is far from Charpentier's most interesting collection, nor are they even his most interesting Christmas music, but the delicacy and charm with which New Century performed these brief songs was winsome. Ruiz, Plourde, and Godburn again shone as a trio, with particularly delightful coordination of their trills and dotted rhythms, with Ruiz and Godburn switching over to recorders.
(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.)
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