New York Classical Review

There is a cognitive dissonance that comes from seeing an orchestra arrayed on the stage of a high school auditorium and then hearing them actually sound pretty good. 

The Greenwich Village Orchestra, which describes itself as a “volunteer” orchestra, makes its home at the High School of Fashion Industries, and despite the minor indignities of the venue—the clock and fire alarm clearly visible on the bare back wall, the lack of light on the front of the stage—the orchestra itself, under long-time music director Barbara Yahr, gave a very solid, sometimes thrilling performance on Sunday.

There were the occasional telltale signs that this was not a full-time orchestra: slightly ragged violin work, wavery horn intonation and fitful wind squawks. But they were very much the exception. The program, titled “Fixations,” showcased the group’s remarkably satisfying blend and balance throughout.

Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune opened the concert. The string sound was warm and focused, if sometimes overshadowed by the winds. The featured flute and horn soloists fulfilled their roles nicely. An added bonus was the unexpected level of personality in the clarinet solo, by principal player Gary Dranch.

The soloist for the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 was guest artist Ari Evan. He played with aggressive physicality in the first movement’s aggressive opening sections, and with remarkable security in the extended high passages of the outer movements. The bittersweet, meandering melancholy of the slow movement gave way to an impassioned, evocative depiction of inner conflict in the lengthy cadenza.

The orchestra was equally impressive here. The string choir has a real depth to their sound, and they and the winds rendered the rhythmic propulsion of the outer movements with the necessary urgency. The woodwinds’ sound in the finale was delightfully crispy. The word “meandering,” however, applied to the second movement as a whole, not just the soloist’s part. The pacing was sufficiently unfocused that the expansiveness of the cadenza did not feel entirely earned.

Similarly, Yahr’s fitful lack of attention to structure and architecture was sometimes vexing in Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique; both the first and second movements bogged down at times. But the level of moment-to-moment detail was exquisite—the first entrance of the “idèe fixe” theme, for example, was so beautifully shaped one could almost see the woman in question. The orchestral balances throughout were flawless, and the section blends coherent.

Yahr did take a mercifully brisk pace for the slow movement, and the luminosity of the combined violins and flutes was a highlight here. The offstage oboe and English horn solos that begin the movement, however, were the only musical casualty of the high school auditorium setting; while they were played beautifully, there was simply not enough room offstage for them to sound as distant as they should.

The final two movements are always the most fun, and this performance was no exception. The “March to the Scaffold” was stirring and macabre, with the brass enjoyably creepy. The “Witches Sabbath” was nicely grotesque (the solo clarinet’s cackling version of the “idèe fixe”theme a standout) and the Dies Irae from the low brass appropriately hair-raising.

The Greenwich Village Orchestra presents a “Together in Music” family concert 3 p.m. December 7. gvo.org