Sat 3/17
Last week Apollo’s Fire, getting ready for (as we have now learned) very well-received concerts in New York City, Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts, brought vividness and conviction to their “Bach’s Coffeehouse Orchestra” program at Fairlawn Lutheran Church on St. Patrick’s Day.
As the always-effervescent Jeannette Sorrell explained to us, coffee houses were very popular places (for men only, not for respectable ladies) to hear new music. (I’ll bet they talked over pieces they didn’t like, just the way some annoying people do in concerts today — it wasn’t church, that’s for sure.)
The varied program first offered selections from G. P. Telemann’s Don Quixote Suite. Physical humor in the passages where Sancho Panza is tossed in a blanket made us laugh (strings can be quite aggressive, it seems), but even the silences were powerful in this musical tribute to Cervantes’ best-seller tale of a Spanish knight, his beloved and his servant as they try to correct injustice and find themselves laughed at for their efforts.
Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G Major followed. The dynamic precision and passion brought to it by the ensemble and the solo performers (Olivier Brault, violin; Francis Colpron and Kathie Stewart, recorder) summoned up the image of a dangerous beast creeping up on us. The pounce was great! After intermission, the Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 featured a beautiful conversation and contest between the ensemble, Stewart (traverso) and Brault (violin) and (the gorgeously decorated) harpsichord (played by Sorrell with her usual brilliance).
After a chaconne from Terpsicore (Il pastor fido) by Handel, the ensemble, led with spirit by dueling violins (Olivier Brault and Julie Andrijeski), concluded with the delicious Vivaldi “La Folia (Madness) as arranged by Sorrell and an encore from “Sugarloaf Mountain.” The crazy was there, but a little bit got lost in the spacious church ceiling. (When they play that in a smaller room, it’s even more delightful.)
BOTTOM LINE: Unlike some ensembles, Apollo’s Fire doesn’t rest on its laurels, but keeps setting them aflame every time. Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (Orpheus in the Underworld) 4/13-14, and 4/18 is next up. (Talk about flames!)
[Written by Laura Kennelly]
Akron, OH 44313
Fairlawn, OH 44333