A mixed Mozart evening from Vengerov, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Since its founding in 1972, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra has earned a reputation for superbly coordinated performances without a conductor. It is, so to speak, their brand.
They also proudly list the dozens of world-famous instrumentalists and singers with whom they have performed over the years.
One hopes most of those collaborations went better than the one Wednesday night with violinist Maxim Vengerov at Carnegie Hall, in which the soloist’s occasional “conducting”—more cheerleading than leading, really–seemed only to sow confusion. In an all-Mozart program of three concertos and two other concertante works for violin, the orchestra sounded out of balance sometimes and out of sync frequently.
Mozart was still in his teens when he composed his five violin concertos—the last four in a single year, 1775—and yet in this series of works one hears a gifted imitator blossoming into the divine Wolfgang before our ears. Unfortunately, Orpheus’s tentative playing of the Concertos Nos. 3, 1 and 4 Wednesday night left the wide expressive range of these works largely untapped in favor of a generalized gentility.
Vengerov’s playing was shapely and fluent, mostly avoiding the kind of rushing in fast passages that can flummox conductors and the conductorless alike. His silvery tone was consistent throughout–maybe a little too consistent. He and the orchestra only rarely struck expressive sparks together, leaving his performance sounding generalized as well.
Still, it was good to hear the Concertone, K. 190, a rarely-programmed work that preceded the last four concertos. The title is Italian for “big concerto,” which suggests a kinship with the Baroque concerto grosso. And indeed, with its poised progress, minuet finale and four prominent solo parts, the piece did look back to that earlier model.
The two violin soloists, Vengerov and Orpheus member Miho Saegusa, led the way, trading phrases in tones of silver and gold respectively. Orpheus oboist Kemp Jernigan, agile and playful, stood at his place to support or duel with those two. A cellist from the orchestra, Madeline Fayette, added heft to the second movement’s cadenza and rocketing scales to the finale.
Ever ready to compose a substitute aria or movement for a particular artist, Mozart crafted a honey of an Adagio for his Violin Concerto No. 5 to replace the slow movement that one violinist found too “learned.” The performance of this single movement Wednesday got off to a wobbly start under Vengerov’s direction and never quite found a consistent tempo or lift. The pulse from the double basses that should ripple through the orchestra to boost the soloist was missing, and the music dragged. Without that firm support, the violinist’s tone went somewhat flabby as well.
Things looked up in the Concerto No. 3, as a suddenly mature Mozart stepped out, inspiring crisp attacks in the orchestra and some snappy give-and-take with the soloist, but still not much variation in tone between the speedy and more tender episodes. However, something like a live beat supported the soloist’s fine, sustained line in the Adagio, and the closing Rondeau navigated its changing tempos with aplomb.
Following intermission, the Concerto No. 1 revealed a skillful 17-year-old channeling Haydn and the sons of J.S. Bach in a sinewy Allegro moderato, which suffered in performance from an uncertain tempo and solos that sounded somewhat tossed off.
In contrast, the Adagio was played con moto with a graceful pulse and (at last) some real push and pull between an energized orchestra and a soaring soloist. Delicate breath-pauses and orchestral countermelodies came off beautifully. The Presto finale was crisp, fast, funny, and played right in time, for maximum effect.
The cadenzas for the above concertos, by the present-day Russian-Hungarian composer Maria Antal, were both well-tailored to their movements and salted with charming anachronisms such as twanging dissonances, glissandos and left-hand pizzicato.
Through the somewhat imprecise ensemble on Wednesday, one could still marvel at the sound chemistry Mozart produced with just oboes, horns and strings in the vigorous opening of the Concerto No. 4. Soloist Vengerov and sections of the orchestra pulled off some sophisticated call-and-response amid a Mozartean abundance of musical ideas, smoothly delivered if not clearly contrasted.
Once again, the Andante cantabile had trouble finding its footing, so Mozart’s subtle shifts of mood tended to slide by unrealized. However, the closing Rondeau was well-characterized, alternating a gently comic aria with a jig-like dance. Vengerov’s insouciant tossing-off of the fast passages suited this movement better than some previous ones, and there was much fun in a folk-style drone episode and some hesitation dialogue between the soloist and the double basses.
The cadenzas Vengerov composed for this concerto played it a little straighter historically than Antal’s, but showed plenty of playful imagination and lyrical feeling.
On an encouraging note, the audience began the evening applauding at the end of every brief movement, but by mid-concert, without perceptible shushing from any quarter, they had thought better of the idea and let every piece run to the end before clapping. Maybe this old bit of concert etiquette can make its own way in the world after all.
The traversal of Mozart’s complete works for violin and orchestra with Maxim Vengerov and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra concludes with the Concertos Nos. 2 and 5 and the Sinfonia concertante K. 364, 8 p.m. Thursday at Carnegie Hall. carnegiehall.org
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