Music Reviews

May 1, 2005 - The Reno Chamber Orchestra ends its season with a brilliant set of performances

By Jack Neal

Mixing the spoken word with the power of great music is storytelling at its best.

The Reno Chamber Orchestra ended its 2004-2005 subscription season Saturday night (4/30/05) at Nightingale Concert Hall with the lengendary Leonard Nimoy narrating two quite different and two quite extraordinary works. Beethoven's incidental music from "Egmont" and Viktor Ullmann's stunningly theatrical musicalization of "The Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Christolph Rilke" were blessed by the art of Mr. Nimoy, as were they by the equally high art of conductor Theodore Kuchar and the brilliant playing of the Reno Chamber Orchestra.

Making the event even more thrilling for the capacity audience was soprano Jennifer Tibben-Lembke's clarion singing for the Beethoven and violist Kati Wentink's impeccable playing of Joseph Schubert's (1754-1837) Viola Concerto in C major.

Ms. Wentink's management of the Schubert, a straight foward piece of considerable charm, was assured and professionally brought off. The violist is the winner of this year's RCO College Concerto Competition. The Wentink sound is on the bright side for a violist - a sound nonetheless that's exceedingly pleasing. Her technique fits the orchestra's "the season of the virtuoso" billing to a "T." This exceptional young artist dashes off the most challenging displays of flash with an ease of dispatch that's disarming. Ms. Wentink's debut with the RCO as its 2005 award winner was itself a winner.

As was the singing of Ms. Tibben-Lembke. Picking up on the heroic nature of Beethoven's "Egmont," the soprano exudes the power and pathos of Leonore, Beethoven's champion of freedom in his "Fidelio." "Rejoicing to heaven, Grieving to death; Happy alone is the heart That is in love" Ms. Tibben Lembke sang with a radiance of spirit and a luminescence of sound that was perfect for the occasion.

Also, in all ways the leadership of the orchestra's maestro, Theodore Kuchar, is perfect for every occasion. His attention to detail, his demand for precision, and his ability to zero in on a composer's expressive intent is exceptional. Everything this maestro touches is reinvigorated with his seemingly endless fresh supply of ideas.

The orchestra's performance of Beethoven's Overture to "Egmont" was dazzling. Powerful, wonderfully nuanced, scrubbed clean and sensitively phrased, the overture plus the remainder of the incidental music from "Egmont" was on a roll and it was electrifying. The exhilaration of liberty that is the spiritual force of Beethoven's music was aligned with the passion Theodore Kuchar brings to his conducting and the results were sensational.

Of very special interest was Viktor Ullmann's "The Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Christolph Rilke." One would think that music composed in one of Hitler's death camps would be colored with anguish. Not so with Mr. Ullmann's music. The use of spoken voice to narrate the lines written by German poet Rainer Maria Rilke is reminiscent of the power (and the glory) of Schubert's setting of Goethe's "Erlkonig" for singers.

"Riding, riding, riding, through the day, through the night, through the day. Riding, riding, riding." And so the poem goes through the journeys and passions of a young soldier living his life as best he can, and prepared for death as best he can. What Mr. Ullmann does with his "The Love and Lay of the Love and Death..." is to imbue it with the voice of Paris, circa the 1930s. Bernd Thewes's orchestration for chamber orchestra (Mr. Ullmann died at Auschwitz before he could orchestrate the work) includes alto saxophone and accordion. Much of it sounds as if Edith Piaf were leaning against a lamp post on the Left Bank just waiting for the introduction to end so she could sing her songs of pathos and yearning.

What a wonderful, courageous and colorful score! What a superb performance!

Mr. Nimoy, always a memorable actor, was more than memorable - not just speaking - but living the poem's melancholy lines. He was all the things Mr. Ullmann's music needed him to be. He touched the soul of the composer's art.

In eloquent pre-concert comments RCO board president Walter Katai dedicated the concert to the memory of three individuals who died this past year who helped financially and otherwise to make the orchestra the splendid organization it is today. Mary Bremer Patrick, Robert Brigham and Col. William Van Allen will be missed.

For information regarding the Reno Chamber Orchestra's 2005-2006 season and other RCO concerts and events call 775-348-9413.