Word: violins
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...last piece, Bach's famous Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major, featured Iona Brown on violin, Jaime Martin on flute, and Ian Watson on harpsichord. It was a charming, polished piece to end the concert, with hypnotic rhythms and fascinating fugal patterns...
...group provided excellent accompaniment for the choir and soloists. They had a warm, clear, and muted sound typical of Renaissance instruments that showcased their musicality but never overshadowed the singers. It was especially interesting to note how the two players of the violini da brazzo (precursors to the modern violin) held their instruments in the crook of the arm, rather than under the chin. These two violini had a notable interplay of melody in verse seven of the Magnificat. Also, the instrumental sonata (Sancta Maria, XI) provided the audience with the pleasure of hearing the Ensemble alone, and basking...
Their perfect accord in the largo made for the greatest single movement of the evening. This sky-scrapingly beautiful duet is one of Bach's greatest achievements, presaging the slow movements of Mozart violin concertos and Beethoven piano concertos. Standing there, gazing at each other, Josefowicz and Laredo looked like intense conversation partners who just happened to be holding violins: Sensitive to the largo's lullaby cadences, Laredo nudged the ensemble to produce a tender, if totally subdued, accompaniment...
Sunny and pleasing music continued in the second half of the program, which featured Josefowicz as the soloist in Haydn's first violin concerto. Since she has a technique that can handle the Tchaikovsky and Sibelius concertos, Josefowicz was not troubled by the simpler Haydn and focused on achieving beauty of tone. She made even spiccato bowings sound lovely. Her upper register was uniformly pure, and she was better than before at blending; she and Laredo made a good team...
...second Mozart piece, the Violin Concerto in G Major, featured Harvard's own Daniel Stepner. Stepner is in his eleventh year as concertmaster for H&H and is a member of many chamber ensembles in Boston. Once again, the orchestra played with a spare precision that complemented the brilliant music and Stepner's clear, light tone. At times, his tone seemed almost too thin, but his low notes were startlingly dark and rich. The cadenzas began tentatively, though they always progressed into intricate virtuosic passages rich with finely wrought ornamentations. The solo passage in the Adagio movement was especially memorable...