Like many such orchestras that play ‘old’ music on modern instruments, the Canadian ensemble treaded lightly using minimal vibrato,  light bowing and generally fast tempi.  But unlike the other orchestras, they use period bows made of natural as opposed to synthetic hairs, giving the string instruments a more crisp and leaner sound.

Certainly, Haydn’s C-Major Symphony No. 48, erroneously labeled “Maria Theresia” by the publisher, benefited greatly from this leaner, meaner sound.  Music director Bernard Labadie (we remember his sublime Messiah at the Disney three years ago) articulated and developed the opposing themes of the Allegro in all their turbulent, Sturm und Drang (“Storm and Stress”) splendor.  This was not the leisurely and genial ‘Papa Haydn’ we were accustomed to hearing.  Maestro Labadie made sure we fully experience Haydn’s theatrical, operatic side.  It was a thrilling performance. 

The opening work of the evening – Henry Purcell’s Chacony from his opera King Arthur – was a charming soufflé but did not quite prepare one for the high drama that was to unfold in the Haydn. 

Following the intermission, we were treated with Handel’s Water Music, originally written for King George I’s  boat party entertainment in 1717.  The Du Roy strings again proved to be an asset, playing very fast and springy, giving an infectious swing to the syncopations and tempo di rubato in the minuets and country dances (Suite G).

The only questionable choice was mixing the period-sounding strings with modern horns and trumpets.  So in the ‘hornpipe’ music from Suite D and Suite F, we heard the horns bleating and blaring up a hazy storm, while the strings remained perfectly crisp and transparent.  The intended antiphonal effects were lost.  The natural valveless horn would have been a better choice.

But no matter, with playing as fine and exciting as this, one wanted to hear more – and maestro Labadie happily obliged with an encore from the Water Music, as well as Bach’s famous Air for Strings in G. 

It can be a safe bet that, at Les Violons Du Roy concerts, we are all treated like kings. 

- Reviewed by Truman C. Wang

Arguably the least moving item was the last one, billed as a West Coast premiere, Expecting the Main Things from You by very young composer Nico Muhly from outtakes of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass that offers shards of interest but also relishes grinding the listener’s ear just a bit too much. Lesser grinding would be most welcome. The entire Master Chorale gave us its best, with instrumental accompaniment from a chamber band led by violinist Ralph Morrison.

Premieres aside, the audience was enveloped in the lush, late Romantic choral blanket of Johannes Brahms’ “Ave Maria” featuring the women of the Master Chorale and two choral compositions by Anton Bruckner that point with promise to his future symphonic production: Locus iste (This place was made by God) and Os justi meditabitur sapientiam (The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom). The former is not a rarity, but when sung by this mighty assemblage of full-throated master singers, there is nothing in the premiere works to match the glorious sound that was gifted the audience. Os justi has its wonderful moments, too, but tends to wander a bit before Bruckner returns to the openng theme that is truly inspired.

Christoph Bull of Mannheim, Germany, was employed part-time at the organ console on stage, although the lighting scheme had the upper console swirling in watery light-and-shadow during the Clearfield piece. Mr. Bull’s contribution was limited except in the Brahms, a piece written with full orchestral accompaniment, and containing a middle section (over the text “Ora pro nobis”) in which the women sing in open octaves for several measures, while the instruments fill the harmonic gaps with moving strings playing a counter-melody. Unfortunately, from the organ we heard only what sounded like the pedal part of the lower string instruments. A bit slower tempo might have made the difference, as Maestro Gershon seemed eager to move things along.

What must have been the most emotional item was another World Premiere, a setting Megan E. Freeman’s poem “Music’s Music” by very popular composer Steven Sametz and sung by Los Angeles Opera mezzo-soprano Erica Brookhyser with the most gleaming and convincing performance of the evening. The fact that Megan’s mother and father, Kathie and Alan Freeman, were the commissioners of the work is not significant, but what is, is Kathie Freeman herself, wearing for her valedictory season the Los Angeles Master Chorale title of Artistic Personnel & Production Manager, a title that as Maestro Grant Gershon acknowledged from the stage doesn’t begin to cover her actual involvement, responsibilities and achievements behind the tremendous success that LAMC has become during her tenure.

- Reviewed by Douglas Neslund

 

Written by a fifteen-year-old Mendelssohn, the Symphony No. 1 in C-Minor is   brimming with youthful enthusiasm and peppered with good-natured references to the great masters (Beethoven’s Fifth and Mozart’s Symphony No. 40, among others).   It even contains a startling bassoon bridge passage in the first movement that we would hear again in the later Violin Concerto.   The writing for woodwinds in this maiden symphony is highly inventive and look forward to that in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.   Conductor James Conlon, taking a break from Wagner, gave a superb reading of this youthful work.

One of the most beloved works in the repertoire, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E-Minor received a rousing and fiery rendition from Sarah Chang, who was like a wild mustang that, at any given moment, could break loose from her orchestral pack.   The smooth-edged classical poise of Midori and  Mutter is not Ms. Chang’s style.  She likes to wear her heart on her sleeve.  In the first-movement sonata-allegro, she pranced about the stage impatiently and thrilled her audience with her impetuous intensity and passionate delivery, several times splitting hairs of her violin bow.  One missed the serene spirituality in the Andante, but the final Vivace dance was maddeningly exhilarating with every sixteenth note, every triplet and gruppetto crisply articulated.  Ms. Chang received a well-deserved standing ovation from the capacity audience.  The orchestra, particularly the woodwinds, played sweetly in total rapport with the soloist.   

After the hearty main dish, the music from A Midsummer Night’s Dream that followed was a welcome soufflé dessert.   Maestro Conlon managed to re-shine the spotlight on himself by coaxing some marvelous will o’ the wisps out of the L.A. Phil strings and woodwinds in the Overture and the Scherzo.   The celebrated March of the Fairy Wedding was played up to all its pomp-and-circumstance splendor, bringing this most enjoyable concert to a glorious close.

- Reviewed by Truman C. Wang