Word: biss
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Bach Society closed its season last night with a program commendably chosen and performed. Gregory Biss and the orchestra warmed up Allessandro Scarlatti's Concerto in F for Strings, a brief and harmonically simple piece culminating in a robust gigue...
...Paine Hall, where the Bach Society Orchestra presented its first concert of the season. Only after the orchestra slept through its own performances of Bach's Suite for Orchestra No. 2 and Mozart's Symphony No. 33 did it display any enthusiasm or care for detail; then conductor Greg Biss led a more inspired performance of Schubert's Symphony No. 3 in D major...
...responsibility for the oppressive uniformity of the Bach rests more with Mr. Biss. Perhaps because of the inexperience of his players or the limitations of his soloist, he chose indifferent tempi for every movement. He took the second, for example, too slow for bounce and too fast for grace; the music just ambled along like an elephant. He also failed to provide variety in the orchestral dynamics to compensate for the restricted possibilities of the flute; most of the time, the notes did not seem to flow in any direction. Only in the fifth movement did the waters of dullness...
...variation from mezzo-forte than did any conscious effort on the part of the conductor or orchestra. Broad contrasts between the tutti and the first violins' soli in the fourth movement remained unexploited. Phrases, instead of concluding, were simply cut off. Ultimately, after opting to repeat every section possible, Biss managed to rouse the orchestra to life--probably because the symphony was nearly over...
...whole spirit of the Schubert Symphony differed from that of the first half of the program. A sharp, solid attack began the first movement. The rich tuttis which followed seemed to involve Biss in the music more than anything had in the Bach and Mozart. In the third movement, for example, Biss seemed more at home demanding histrionics of the orchestra than he had been before demanding discipline of it. Again, perhaps because of the limitations of his orchestra, his Presto vivace barely passed allegro; but the overbearing horns and the soft sections that never got soft should have been...