Northeast Wisconsin Music Review

Birch Creek Music Performance Center

Symphony Series

June 28 & 29, 2007

Suites and Romance

For this second week of Birch Creek's symphony series, Brian Groner was back on the podium in razor's-edge form, coaxing from the orchestra a response in kind. Another program of well-chosen works made for a satisfying evening, something one has come to expect at this venue. First came a dynamic performance of Khachaturian's incidental music written for the Mikhail Lermontov play, "Masquerade" and premiered in 1941. Eschewing the darker aspects of the playwright's take on early nineteenth century Russian society, the composer created a large-scaled collection of brilliant pieces, now and then injecting readily detectable doses of irony. The Suite can easily be listened to just as a collection of delightful music, sans any connections to Lermontov's biting text; indeed, that focus has made the suite a popular concert work from its very beginnings. The Waltz zipped by in slightly manic demeanor, portraying accurately the feverish atmosphere of a society determined to enjoy itself to the fullest. The Nocturne was haunting, the Mazurka a traditional dance garbed here in modern dress. The Romance was sweetly played and the concluding Galop was riotous in its not quite unforced hilarity. Groner and his orchestra realized every hue in this multi-colored parade.

Next, faculty viola principal Matthew Mantell offered a wonderfully poised performance of Bruch's Romance in F major for Viola and Orchestra. With firm, elegantly-drawn tone, he afforded the piece exactly what it wants: restrained, subtly shaped lines full of emotional tension and fully integrated with the composer's straightforward, but full accompaniment. This was yet another example of the outstanding musicianship found among the BC faculty. Lovely, simply lovely.

After intermission, Groner and company delivered one of the eeriest, nastiest "Night on Bald Mountain " performances we've heard in many years. In recent times, we've heard altogether too many interpretations of this nightmarish Mussorgsky creation that passed innocently by, missing the evil aspects that make this such a riveting piece. This performance was truly scary, fairly spat out by the orchestral brass in particular, playing with all possible force short of outright blasting. The soothing coda after the black revelry of the night is over was softly, comfortingly managed, bringing closure to a hellish venture that had pinned one to the back of one's seat.

The Suite No. 1 from Bizet's "Carmen," perhaps the public's all-time favorite opera and a work of almost unparalleled perfection, offered more ultra-sharp execution from the remarkable Birch Creek symphony, aided in no small degree by Groner's alert direction and crisp tempi. Along the way through the Prelude, Aragonaise, Intermezzo, Seguedille, "Les dragons d'Alcala" and "Les Toréadors," we could delight in solo stretches from oboe principal and BC symphony program director Riccardo Castañeda, played with lambent tone and elegant phrasing. No room for cavils here.

So passed another banner Birch Creek concert, adding to one's wonderment over the extraordinary quality of music performance that is the going standard here. Amazing. (Erik Eriksson)