Something about Saturday's Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra concert made me think of this old song. Give this orchestra a concert in Hill Auditorium (last month's season opener) and provide it an operatic requiem to perfom (the Verdi) - and Voila! It returns to the Michigan Theater a month later - no farm, but bear with me - sounding like it really has been to Paris. And is still there.
Maybe it was the acoustics in Hill, maybe it was the thrill of playing the "big house.'' Maybe was inhabiting the larger-than-life sound-world of the Verdi. But back on its home turf Saturday at the Michigan to play Vivaldi, Brahms and Dvorak, the orchestra - and its maestro, Arie Lipsky, a "star,'' with guest cellist Matt Haimovitz, in this "Cello Constellation'' concert - played with a new richness and unprecedented assurance.
To begin, the forces on stage were small but mighty as Lipsky, forsaking baton for bow and cello, joined Haimovitz and a baroque-sized band of players (including harpsichordist Edward Parmentier) for a vivacious, appealing account of the Vivaldi Concerto for Two Cellos in G Major, RV 53.
The interplay between Lipsky and Haimovitz, as they harmonized, answered each other's lines and trilled in perfect unison, was excellent, and the orchestra needed no prompting - or leading - to come along for the ride. Loveliest was the soulful middle movement, but the final allegro, with its echo effects and generally well-conceived dynamics, was a fine and fun finish.
The concerto stood in for an overture - over quickly and ceding to a more substantial attraction, in this case the Brahms Symphony No. 3 in F Major.
The bloom was really on this rose of a piece in the A2SO's reading Saturday. From the first notes, the sound had heft, sheen and polish, and the music a wonderful forward motion that took beautiful advantage of Brahms' rhythmic structures. In the lilting poco allegretto, the arch of the phrases was elegant and affecting, most so, perhaps, it the round, mellow reiteration by the horn, which earned principal Andrew Pelletier a well-deserved bow. The brass section deserved the kudos it got, too, for the exultant energy of its playing in the allegro finale.
With all this, the best was yet to come, in the form of the Dvorak Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in B Minor, Op. 104, which brought Haimovitz back to the stage as soloist.
On the podium, Lipsky led with evident sympathy for the player and the piece - the result of having played the work and taught it many times himself. Such intimate acquaintance translated to superb ensemble playing by the orchestra, though we can only credit Concertmaster Aaron Berofsky for the gorgeous duetting with Haimovitz in the work's finale. Bravo, too, to the winds, which took their turns as the soloist's partner.
Meanwhile, Haimovitz made the rough places plain in this difficult concerto. But he offered much more than technique. His ardent playing, his throaty tone (turning tremulous and far-off in a first-movement episode), his ability to dance as much as to sing, were all qualities that lifted this performance to glowing heights and the audience to its feet.
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©2002-2008
Ann Arbor Symphony
220 E Huron St., Suite 470
Ann Arbor, MI 48108
(734) 994-4801
