Word: hro
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...HRO showed off two supreme musicians Friday night: flutist Karen Monson '66, and pianist Ursula Oppens '65. They are quite a pair. Both won the concerto contest in their freshman years. Both spent three or four years becoming legends among Harvard concertgoers. Both face futures of great promise as professional performers. Both are very exciting musicians...
...shine the way she can when given the opportunity. This concerto is frequently referred to as one of Vivaldi's "xeroxed concertos"--those he cranked out for his orchestra of girl orphans. Of course, with Vivaldi even a "xeroxed concerto" is a gem; and, given their masterly soloist, the HRO might have made something of this one--if only the strings and the harpsichord could have played together...
...HRO got off to a slow start Friday night, but it was worth the wait. Their closing performance of Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe was magnificent. It was the best I've ever heard them play...
...such admiration would normally lead to overcritical judgment of interpretation. So you can believe me when I say that the HRO's performance was perfect. There were no detectable wrong notes, or questionable tonalities, or muffed passages. Yannatos's command of his orchestra's dynamics was admirable. The large entrances of the brass choir were thrilling. The trumpets handled a speedy passage with facile precision. And, of course, Daphnis et Chloe gave the HRO an opportunity to show off its unsurpassable solo flutist, Karen Monson...
...opening Canzona Noni Toni for three brass choirs of Gabrieli added insult to the injury the HRO has already meted out to us Renaissance and Baroque buffs. It is bad enough when, as frequently happens, they don't play anything at all from these periods. But to take this delightful Renaissance canzona and brutally massacre it requires real malevolence. Not only were the choirs not together, but one of the trumpets unceasingly insisted on shlurping every single high note. The HRO's next two concerts include works by Vivaldi and Bach. Let us hope they redeem themselves by handling them...