Music Reviews

Sep 9, 2007 - The Reno Chamber Orchestra opens its season with brilliance and panache

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Brilliance and panache, as in adventuresome nerve, continue to drive the podium leadership of conductor Theodore Kuchar. At the outset of his fifth season as conductor and music director of the Reno Chamber Orchestra, the maestro continues to emblazon his concerts with new works that stretch listener’s ears and the virtuosity of the orchestra, and tried and true works given fresh makeovers.

The Reno Chamber Orchestra, the musician’s orchestra, opened its 34th season Saturday night (9/8/07) at Reno’s Nightingale Concert Hall. The audience was large and receptive. The orchestra was in top form. Guest artist, violinist Martin Chaliflour, was technically and musically brilliant.

Where to start? Well, perhaps, at the beginning.

The concert opened with contemporary Finnish composer (he was born in 1928) Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Cantus Arcticus. In three movements, this lushly impressionist piece is – literally – for the birds. Set the American idiom aside on what “for the birds” usually means. Focus on a rapturous symphonic setting as a natural outdoor cathedral for the transfixing sounds of birds. Replace Gregorian Chant with the peaceful embroidery of bird sounds for a transcendent flight into otherworldliness. That’s Cantus Arcticus.

Rautavaara’s free-flowing approach to composition present a challenge to players and conductor (you do your thing and I’ll do mine and will meet at the summit) that makes a successful performance of Cantus technically challenging, but well worth the effort – a lovely, haunting, triumphant musical escape – when it’s done with the subtle artistry Kuchar inspired and the orchestra provided.

As guest artist, Martin Chalifour - playing two Vivaldi concerti, one in C Major, RV 190, and one in D Major, RV 222, and Sarasate’s dazzling “Zigeunerweisen” (“Gypsy Airs”) - more than earned his keep. Chalifour plays with a crystalline technical wizardry and a warm personal musicianship that captivates from start to finish. One could spend hours dissecting what places his virtuosity on the heavenly side of perfection. Playing the Stradivarius violin once owned by beloved comedian and exceptional amateur musician Jack Benny (Mr. Benny loved playing chamber music) just may add a mystic quality to Chalifour’s artistry. Someone up there really does like him and it shows every moment he’s playing with every phrase he plays.

Both Vivaldi’s were played impeccably and as freshly as if they were being played for the first time. The dash and flash of the Sarasate, in one sense high camp violining and in another sense simply too good to be true, was brought off with splendid facility and just the hints and whiffs of schmaltz that made it that much more enticing. Designed to please and excite, the Sarasate did both for a standing ovation propelled by talent and heightened by adrenaline.

Beethoven’s music is the stuff of perpetual revolution. The passion, power and drama of Beethoven’s every musical uttering is the audio underpinning of enlightened thought and the politics of The Enlightenment that nudge the best in humanity to keep striving for truth.

Triumph of freedom over oppression is the message of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. It reverberates with the triumph of good over evil. Through close attention to detail, scrupulous phrasing, and a devil-may-care approach, Kuchar and the orchestra provided a performance of determination that caught the fire of Beethoven’s obsessed personality and the majesty of his genius. It was a superb Beethoven’s Seventh that won’t soon be forgotten.

RCO subscription concerts are played at Nightingale Concert Hall, 900 North Virginia Street, Reno, Nevada. The orchestra’s opening concerts were Saturday (9/8/07) at 8 p.m. and Sunday (9/9/07) at 2 p.m. The orchestra’s next series of concerts, November 10 and 11, 2007, will feature pianist Meng-Chieh Liu, Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1, Haydn’s Symphony No. 85 (“La Reine”), Faure’s “Ballade,” and Ravel’s “Mother Goose.” Theodore Kuchar will conduct. For information call 775-348-9413.