SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Bach, Schumann, Chihara, Theofanidis: Christian Zacharias (piano), Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, 8.12.2007 (BH)

Bach: “Brandenburg” Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048 (1721)

Schumann: Overture, Scherzo, and Finale, Op. 52 (1841, rev. 1845 and 1853)

Paul Chihara: Childhood Dreams (2007, New York premiere)

Christopher Theofanidis:  Muse (2007, world premiere)

Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 (1841-45)


Two fascinating experiments distinguished this concert by Orpheus, the chamber ensemble renowned for eschewing a conductor.  Some listeners are no doubt startled, listening to the precision and focus of the group, which chooses a small “core” of musicians to direct each work, but it’s hard to argue with the outstanding results of this democratic process.  Right off the bat, the ten members of the ensemble (most standing) plunged into Bach’s Third Brandenburg Concerto with relaxed, genial warmth, quite different from more super-charged versions.  The two-note middle movement was notable for its simplicity, and the musicians seemed to be enjoying the momentum of the boisterous finale.

1841 turned out to be a crucial year for Robert Schumann, who wrote two symphonies (the First and what would later be the Fourth), his Piano Concerto, and a short work in three parts: Overture, Scherzo, and Finale.  Inspired by Nos. 1 and 12 of Schumann’s Kinderszenen (“Childhood Scenes”), composer Paul Chihara wrote Childhood Dreams as a slow movement to be played with the other three, creating a prototypical symphonic form.  The warmth of the ensemble’s oboist in the Overture made a nice contrast with the delicacy of the Scherzo.  Chihara’s section seemed a momentary burst, more florid than the movements that surrounded it.  I heard it as an idyll; some may have felt it as a graceful bridge.  The Finale showed the ensemble’s skill with balances, and made an energetic ending to the first half.

In a commissioning project called The New Brandenburgs, six composers have written new works based on the six Bach concertos.  After hearing its creative inspiration earlier in the program, Christopher Theofanidis’s Muse was a refreshing new take, somewhat harking back to Lukas Foss’s Baroque Variations.  Theofanidis was attracted to Bach’s “harmony, ornamentation and brilliance of sound,” and Muse might be seen as the Third Brandenburg splintered and reassembled.  The first movement, “brilliant, fiery,” evokes Britten’s mid-20th-century tonality in a limber, athletic display that comes to a sudden close.  The second, “with a light touch, ornate,” is stately yet filled with cascading downward hiccups, and the third (“willful, deliberate”) has driving rhythms but somehow ends sounding a little like Sibelius.  There is no denying Theofanidis’s skill in this highly attractive piece, and the large audience seemed to relish it.

To conclude, pianist Christian Zacharias offered a debonair and highly satisfying account of the Schumann Piano Concerto.  Zacharias was constantly listening—keenly attentive to the orchestra and always a model of how a great soloist interacts with his colleagues.  Orpheus has made its fortune showing how the best chamber musicians can play figurative tennis with each other, and with his precision and lustrous playing, Zacharias was very much up for the match.

Bruce Hodges