United States ‘Vivaldi’s 4 Seasons Rediscovered’ – Numerous: Alan Choo (violin), Kathie Stewart (traverso), Ellen Saurer Tanyeri (traverso), Apollo’s Fireplace / Jeannette Sorrell (conductor). Tub Church, Akron, Ohio, 13.8.2024. (MSJ)
Uccellini – ‘La Bergamasca’
Marais – Suite from Alcione
Dall’Abaco – Concerto è più strumenti in E minor, Op.5, No.3
Vivaldi – The 4 Seasons
Jaded critics like to pounce on hype. When a period-instrument ensemble that incessantly performs a cornerstone of the Baroque repertory like Vivaldi’s The 4 Seasons claims they’re rediscovering it, that definitely smacks of selling hype. However the factor is, Apollo’s Fireplace may give a live performance that sort of conceptual title after which comply with via on it.
In over a decade of protecting classical concert events in Ohio, I’ve heard the ensemble on this piece quite a lot of instances, with soloists akin to Olivier Brault, Francisco Fullana (with whom they recorded it) and Alan Choo. All through, the interpretation has been formed by Jeannette Sorrell’s dedication to mirror the work’s vivid program, whereas parts have been tweaked alongside the best way, and every soloist has introduced his or her personal sense of discovery.
It has been fascinating to observe Alan Choo develop. His first foray into the work was in 2019, whereas he was serving an inventive fellowship with Apollo’s Fireplace, on his method to being named concertmaster and assistant director. He already had the method, however he appeared unaccustomed to the extent of freedom Sorrell was ready to offer him. Since then, Choo has grown in artistic stature to the purpose the place he tore into the half like a rock star, exploring the pictorial byways of the solo half however not shedding monitor of the large image. He ornamented the solo strains freely with out ever overdoing it. Likewise, he had a method of shedding himself in probably the most rhapsodic moments with out snapping the narrative via line.
Sorrell’s shaping is seen at its finest in moments the place she leads from one motion to the following, making the narrative much more seamless. An instance can be between the actions of the Summer time concerto, the place she hushed the tip of the primary motion to steer into the uneasy, thunder-threatened gradual one, then began the finale quietly, constructing the thunder till its full eruption within the first solo. As ever, Sorrell insists on lavishing the gradual motion of the Fall concerto with roulades and arpeggios in her harpsichord continuo, an error in inventive style that breaks the spell. For years, she has offered it so and, for years, I’ve criticized it. No motive to anticipate both of us will ever yield. A minimum of she gave this jaded critic one thing to fortunately gnaw at amid the plentiful magnificence.
Your entire ensemble has a well-established model of connecting amongst themselves as they play, in order that completely different sections and people within the orchestra led, all the time inside Sorrell’s established boundaries. This saved every of the musicians (fourteen within the Vivaldi) vitally engaged in what was happening, constructing the power degree, enjoying the piece as if that they had by no means heard it earlier than. The efficiency was electrifying and introduced the group to their ft.
Hardly much less important have been the Marais suite and the Dall’Abaco concerto. The Marais suite was from the opera Alcione, and it included the adorably pastel sounds of duetting traverso flutes (Kathie Stewart and Ellen Sauer Tanyeri) in addition to stormy sound results (!) – thunder sheet, wind machine and bass drum. The bridge between the elegant French model and the fiery Italian was a concerto by the little-known Evaristo Felice Dall’Abaco, whose work begins within the Italian concertante method, however shifts towards a extra galant model by the closing passepieds. Choo, Stewart and Tanyeri interplayed buoyantly.
The live performance opened with the swish ‘La Bergamasca’ dance by Marco Uccellini and closed with a boisterous encore efficiency of a conventional tarantella from Italy, replete with dancing within the orchestra. Apollo’s Fireplace rediscovers the enjoyment of music each time. Higher luck subsequent time, jaded critic.
Mark Sebastian Jordan
