Concert Review: Curtis Chamber Orchestra

The conservatory students of the Curtis Chamber Orchestra were about to take the stage at 92NY on Sunday when the elderly woman sitting next to me, examining the program, asked her husband, “Do you know anything about Samuel Barber?” Barber’s most famous piece, the “Adagio for Strings,” opened the program, followed by music of Mozart and Beethoven. “No,“ her elderly husband replied.

After the performance of the “Adagio,” the couple agreed that they had liked it.

I recount this humble anecdote because my first reaction to seeing this continuously popular piece on a concert program is, “Again?“ Haven’t we classical music fans experienced the “Adagio for Strings” – an orchestration of the slow movement of a string quartet that Barber wrote while a Curtis student – enough times already in concert, on recordings, in movies and on TV, and who knows where else?

But the old couple reminded me of something: Even among people who are generations ahead of the young string players on stage, there are many who have yet to discover music others may consider overplayed. Anyone’s mind can open to fresh musical experiences at any age.

The Worldly Mozart

After the orchestra‘s 17 string players delivered their heartfelt, all-for-one performance of the “Adagio,” I had a somewhat mind-opening experience of my own. Now supplemented by horns and woodwinds, and fronted by faculty soloists Erin Keefe and Roberto Díaz on violin and viola respectively, the musicians gave a wonderfully rich reading of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major, K. 364. I know the piece well, but two things were new for me:

I hadn’t heard it played with the fresh energy of a student orchestra.

And I had recently been to the fabulous Mozart exhibit at the Morgan Library, which laid out in sumptuous detail the stages of Mozart‘s career. That included where he was working and touring when his musical imagination turned in particular directions. Knowing the ideas and influences he’d picked up from the music scenes of different European countries made the Sinfonia ring more clearly and colorfully.

Not that you’d have needed to know much about Mozart, or classical music in general, to enjoy this brisk performance. The first movement features a variety of exciting elements and the performance shone with energy.

The violinists and violists stood (for the entire concert), which conveys enthusiasm and I think also boosts it.

Keefe, a Curtis graduate and now faculty member, matched the students in carbonated spirit and played beautifully, projecting her silvery sound well over the orchestra, and dueting with an equally assured if more sober-miened Díaz (who serves as Curtis’ president as well as on the faculty). The performance overall and especially the breaks featuring the two soloists had the tastefully romantic flavor that to me is a key aspect of the piece as a whole, and that makes it one of the brightest achievements of its phase in Mozart’s career.

From his Amati viola Díaz drew a startlingly expressive sound that at different times resembled an oboe and a muted French horn. I’ve heard him perform with Curtis students before, but he helped lend this ensemble a special magic. They played with hearty dynamics and fine togetherness, considering they were working without a conductor.

The cello-bass runs at the close of the first movement made me literally a bit breathless myself. The audience applauded excitedly, defying our sour custom of never expressing appreciation between movements. In the “Andante,” with its suggestions of Italian folk melody, the orchestra gelled into a heady, thrumming accompaniment mode with a nicely tailored mix and collective color. The breakdown was once again romantic, sweet, but this time also tense and subdued, giving a sense that a lot of potential energy lurked within. And it was as if that very energy burst forth in the finale’s scurrying melodic lines and vigorous accents.

Beethoven Writ Large

For the concert’s second half, the Curtis Chamber Orchestra string players gave us the James Ross transcription of Beethoven’s final string quartet, No. 16 in F Major. The material of the Late Quartets can easily handle the greater density of an orchestral setting, and aside from one or two slightly mistimed attacks the students played the first movement with fine professional precision. More impressively, they handled the off-kilter rhythms and accents of the second movement adroitly, retaining the music’s light spirit through the heavier instrumentation – and making me laugh, as this movement always does.

Their performance of the slow movement, with its gently rising and falling patterns, gave me a thought: Had Samuel Barber been listening to this when he conceived the Adagio movement of his string quartet?

The chorale-like sections were beautifully played; the fist-like unison accents hit full-tilt. The last movement’s “Grave” introduction resumed the weirdness that’s plentiful even in this last of Beethoven’s quartets with its relatively hopeful and positive attitude. The “Allegro” sections were pert and yet flowing.

After this serious and altogether appealing realization of late Beethoven, the string players went back to his middle period for an almost carnival-esque rendition of the bracing finale of the Op. 59 String Quartet No. 3, again arranged for string orchestra. It showed nimbleness in all sections, from violin to bass viol, and excellent solo work from featured players – no need for faculty assists! I found myself smiling along with the musicians at the twists of the false ending and the guffaw of the real one.

Curtis on Tour concerts are a going concern, with small chamber ensembles as well as larger groups like this one. They are always worth attending to experience some of our finest up-and-coming musicians renewing traditions, creating new ones, and exposing music-lovers of all ages to works they may never have heard.