October 19, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Hill maestro, 87: ‘glowing warmth’ at St. Paul’s
by MICHAEL CARUSO

A ‘TASTE’ OF HILLER’S MUSIC: Chestnut Hill resident Jimi Odell, a jazz guitarist and vocalist who has played in Philadelphia area clubs for 37 years, will perform with a three-man rhythm section on Wednesday, October 18, 7 p.m., at Ogontz Grill, 7152 Ogontz Ave. in West Oak Lane, under the same management at Chestnut Grill. More info: call 215-248-1098.

The Bach Festival of Philadelphia launched its 2006-07 season and commemorated its founding 30 years ago with a pair of concerts performed in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church last weekend. Chestnut Hill maestro, Jonathan Sternberg, led two programs that re-created those concerts conducted by the late Michael Korn, the festival’s founder and guiding spirit, during that inaugural weekend in 1976. On hand to join him in the music-making were members of Korn’s other musical creation, the Philadelphia Singers, some of whose choristers sang in those first events.

Saturday evening’s program of choral works by Johann Sebastian Bach brought back a flood of fond memories of Korn’s peerless contribution to the region’s classical music scene. When he founded the Philadelphia Singers in 1974, it was America’s first all-professional chorus. Two years later, the choir and the former Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia (now the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia led by Chestnut Hiller Ignat Solzhenitsyn) became the founding ensembles of the Bach Festival of Philadelphia.

Korn’s interpretive approach to the choral music of the baroque and classical styles of the 18th century was revolutionary at the time. Using pared down numbers and a more focused rather than broadly operatic tone, he was among the first choral directors in America to take up the cause of performing choral music of the 18th century more in the style appropriate to its aesthetic standards rather than in the fashion of the romantic era of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

More attention was now being paid to counterpoint and theatrical coloring of the text. This movement had begun in Europe shortly after the close of World War II in 1945 and had garnered a powerful momentum by the 1960s. In America, however, the interpretive style had retained a distinctly Wagnerian scope until the 1970s when conductors like Korn began approaching baroque and classical choral music with a greater sensitivity to its own particular modes of expression.

It was fascinating hearing Jonathan Sternberg lead works Korn, himself, had conducted three decades ago. The concert opened with the Motet: “Lobet den Hern, alle Heiden” and the Cantata No. 78: “Jesu, der mu meine Seele” before intermission, then concluded with the Cantata No. 147: “Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben.” At 87 years old and celebrating the 65th anniversary of his professional musical debut, Sternberg harks back to the style of interpreting 18th century music that pre-dated Korn’s revolutionary approach.

Tempi were broad and unhurried, phrasing was over-arching, and sections were rounded off with profound ritardandos. I would have preferred brisker tempi, lighter timbres for the sake of appreciating the counterpoint, and more rhythmic propulsion straight though to the final measure. And yet, Sternberg’s approach had its pleasures and rewards. There was a glowing warmth to the music that was certainly preferable to the dry munchings one often hears these days, presented under the cover of “authenticity” when it’s really little more than “unimaginative.”

Along the way in all three scores, there was much fine singing from the choir and playing from the Bach Festival Orchestra. Flutist Mimi Stillman, oboists Tara Schauble and Priscilla Smith, and violinist Gloria Justen were particular instrumental standouts. Soprano Carole Latimer, altos Nancy Trauger and Jan Taylor, and tenor Kenneth Garner deserve special vocal credit.

FANCY FREE

The Pennsylvania Ballet opened its 2006-07 season with a program of works by Jerome Robbins called Romance and Revelry. Performed before enthusiastic audiences in the Academy of Music, it featured “Fancy Free,” “In the Night” and “The Concert.” More important, it offered some of the most thrilling dancing I’ve ever seen from the company.

Erdenheim’s Roy Kaiser, the company’s artistic director, spoke with pride recently when he pointed to the difficulty of scheduling an all-Robbins program. The trust that oversees performances of the late choreographer’s works is no less demanding than that which controls renditions of the ballets of the late George Balanchine. Robbins worked under Balanchine at the New York City Ballet and collaborated with such American musical icons as the late Leonard Bernstein. Kaiser noted the Pennsylvanians’ 42-year history of dancing Balanchine ballets as one of the reasons the Robbins Trust granted permission for the company to acquire “In the Night” for its repertoire. These performances marked the piece’s premiere with the troupe and the first time it had ever programmed an all-Robbins roster.

All the same, it was the well-loved “Fancy Free” that both opened the show and stole its audience’s heart, in no small part due to the dancing of one of its leads. Of course, “Fancy Free” is as nearly a sure-fire hit as exists in the repertoire, what with its bouncy Bernstein score and exuberant choreography. And its tale of three sailors on the loose and on the prowl on leave in New York City is a natural winner. But without expert dancing, both technically and theatrically, even so guaranteed a triumph as “Fancy Free” risks falling flat.

Not to worry whenever the Pennsylvania Ballet’s Philip Colucci is cast as one of those three sailors. From a technical standpoint, he was flawless Sunday afternoon, especially his turns followed by splits. More telling still was his theatrical characterization of a young man bursting at the seams with macho energy to burn. James Ady and Jonathan Stiles were his combative cohorts in cavorting.

THE MERRY WIDOW

The Concert Operetta Theater of Philadelphia opened its 2006-07 season with a performance of The Merry Widow last weekend at the Academy of Vocal Arts’ Warden Theater in center city. The sentimental operetta was given a rendition so enjoyable that one can only hope for bigger and better things for and from this company.

In a city with far too few performances of opera and virtually none of operetta other than those of Gilbert & Sullivan, Concert Operetta Theater has carved out a regional niche for itself that needs and deserves support because no one else is doing what it does — perform the glorious repertoire of operettas. With Daniel Pantano as its executive and artistic director and Nicholas Mastripolito as its music director, it’s poised to take off to achieve greater triumphs if only it can garner some local support. For more information, visit www.concertoperetta.com.