A Showcase For Baroque Gems

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The New York Sun

For those who wished to squeeze in one more concert before Christmas, Avery Fisher Hall was open Saturday evening so the New York Philharmonic, under guest conductor Bernard Labadie, could offer a festive box of ear candy with not a single sour center.

Although the old formula of an overture, a concerto, and a symphony has gone by the boards, the bulk of concerts still only feature repertoire from a very narrow period of music history, roughly the 120 years or so from the “Eroica” to the Ravel orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition. Orchestras that attempt to display their “relevance” may program the occasional transitory piece of contemporary music, but the masterworks of Haydn or, in a non-anniversary year, even Mozart, are rarely presented. Anything earlier, forget it.

In the month of December, however, Bach, Handel, and lesser Baroque lights reappear like senior citizens seeking seasonal employment at the mall. This final non-pops concert of 2006 was performed by a split squad of Phil players, the remainder of the team uptown at the Riverside Church, intoning Messiah.

All began with a sweet run though the Sinfonia from Cantata 29 of Johann Sebastian Bach. A simple and head-bobbing piece, it features an organ obbligato, ably performed by Richard Pare. Avery Fisher has no organ and so we had to make do with a portable instrument of rather childlike timbre, but it was at least more resplendent than the squeaky, transistor radio-style affair used at Carnegie Hall for the Renée Fleming show Thursday.

Next came the inspired Concerto in G Minor, Op. 6, No. 8 of Arcangelo Corelli, which includes the postscript “composed for Christmas night.” Although a decidedly secular piece, this concerto grosso was probably allowed in the church as a part of the midnight mass celebration around 1690. It is scored for strings and three soloists, this evening, Marc Ginsberg and Lisa Kim, violins, and first chair player Carter Brey, cello (the Santa hat was a nice touch).The work’s gripping gravitas at its beginning distinguishes it from many other similar sounding pieces, but it soon develops into a more life-affirming, toe-tapping romp. Mr. Labadie created a very pleasant aggregate sound here, an unabashedly modern flavor that retained some desirable nimbleness. In fact, this entire concert was notable for the togetherness of the ensemble sound of the orchestra. Perhaps it should be split apart more frequently.

That tinny organ was featured in the Handel Concerto in D minor, Op. 7, no. 4, but Mr. Pare certainly made the most of what he had. When Carnegie Hall was renovated, management missed a golden opportunity to install a world-class organ. One hopes Lincoln Center will not drop the same ball when it closes Avery Fisher for two years in the near future.

Little is known about Handel’s Water Music except that it made its premiere on the evening of June 17, 1717, on King George I’s barge on the Thames. Only two of its many movements are authenticated, the rest being a compendium of scholarly effort and occasional caprice — Maestro Labadie added timpani to this version. The pastiche is justly famous for its nobility and conviviality, and its individual themes are familiar due to their ubiquity on British television.

The Philharmonic responded well to the proddings of this worthy guest conductor, whom many of us know through the Mostly Mozart Festival. The onagain, off-again horns of the orchestra were quite sparkling this night.

And lest we doubt the rarity of these performances, consider this. The Bach and the Handel concerto had never before been mounted by the orchestra (a portion of the Handel, though, was performed at a children’s concert in the 1930s). The last man to conduct the Corelli was Bruno Walter, and, amazingly enough, this oldest symphonic ensemble in the Western hemisphere had previously only performed the complete Water Music once before — under Michael Tilson Thomas in 1971. Baroque music may be popular, but apparently not popular enough to listen to very often.


The New York Sun

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