The Atlantic Classical Orchestra’s third concert last week at the Eissey Campus Theatre in Palm Beach Gardens had conductor Stewart Robertson on the podium for the penultimate time.
Alas, the doctors won’t allow him to continue past his next concert April 7, which is such a pity because the March 10 concert was a coming together of orchestra and conductor in a most refined afternoon of excellent music making. We wish Robertson well in his retirement and thank him for many glorious hours of listening pleasure.
True to form, the program opened with a relatively new work, this time Richard Rodney Bennett’s Partita for orchestra. Composed in 1995, it was a joint commission by British Telecommunications and the Association of British Orchestras. Seventeen British orchestras gave it a “first” performance in July 1996; a nice idea, perhaps one of America’s Fortune 500 companies could take it under advisement as they plan their support of the arts.
Equally at home at the jazz club or concert hall, Bennett composed 200 works and 50 film scores. Born in Broadstairs, Kent, a respectable seaside resort in England, he died at 76 while visiting New York City in 2012.
The Partita is a lively and and accessible piece, even though Bennett had been a pupil of the French avant-gardist Pierre Boulez. Written in the key of D major it, features front-desk players and lasts about 18 minutes. It is in three movements.
The first, “Intrada,” has the sound of the early British films he wrote for, such as Indiscreet (1957) and more recently Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994). It also reflects the warmth of the Kent countryside, known locally as “The Garden of England.” Shortly into the piece, the first violin has a lovely prominent solo, which is followed by similar music from the oboe that has a charm all its own. Bennett cleverly uses the strings to pick up the tune from the clarinet and ride it out to an exciting woodwind chord that ends the movement.
Next comes “Lullaby,” in which the lead cello plays a melancholy melody. Then the orchestra produces soft smooth colors, and harp runs follow as the lead horn plays a tune that is sensitively beautiful. The woodwinds pick it up and the full orchestra rounds it out amid small, interjected cello solos. Eventually, the lullaby tune is carried forward into an ever-rising hopeful beauty, with lush strings, harp, and the solo cello returning to the opening melody. The finale begins with staccato strings leading into woodwinds. Horns and trumpets join them and muted strings play along in this delightfully tuneful opening. Cheeky tripping sounds appear from the lead bassoon which sets off luscious string sounds only to be interrupted by two other bassoons trying to have their way. All the lower strings pluck away continually to a background of chatty, joyful orchestral music.
Light classical music like this is gaining traction with the public at large. Smart orchestra planners will include more pieces like Bennett’s Partita and win new audiences when they do.
Mozart’s Two-Piano Concerto (in E-flat, K. 365) followed, with soloists Barbara and Sebastian Bartmann, who play under the name Duo imPuls. Recipients of countless prizes from all over Europe, they added sparkle and a lot of class to the program.
Music like that for an opera overture opens the piece and occurs in much of the concerto. The Bartmanns entered with scale after scale, tackling them admirably, with a delicate light touch rippling like running water from their fingertips.
The Andante got even more operatic. The pianists appeared to be playing a seamless aria of great depth at first. The music was heavenly, and the duo pianists demonstrated their excellent technical skills again as Mozart added an abundance of new melodies. I felt carried back to 1779, the year the concerto was written: The size of the orchestra was just about right for Mozart’s day and the music was so magically perfect from soloists and orchestra. The performance was spellbinding, and brought the audience in the Eissey to a hush.
In the finale, the Bartmanns kept their refined style even amid very quick tempos, and a chance to be more demonstrative. After warm applause from the audience, the two responded with a special two-piano abridged arrangement of Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Having played Mozart superlatively, the Bartmanns showed they could handle heavier music just as well.
Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony (No. 4 in A, Op. 90) ended the program. It was a great choice for this orchestra and I’ve never heard it better. Robertson and his players dug deep to give a very fine performance that will stay in my mind for a long time to come.
A nicely balanced first movement, in which the strings were brilliant, paid off handsomely for them. And credit also goes to each of the sections for giving such a polished rendition of this very sunny music. The Andante con moto, with its monk-processional melancholic theme, was conducted by Robertson with expressive hands rather than the baton.
The third movement, Con moto moderato, opens with a long and beautiful exchange between horns and orchestra. It was played to perfection, and the light and shade Robertson got from his players in this movement was that of a conductor at the top of his game.
The same went for the finale, a saltarello marked Presto that drives through a series of small crescendos to an even wilder dance, the tarantella, to end this wizardry by a 22-year-old who obviously enjoyed his five-month visit to Italy. A well-deserved reception greeted the orchestra for all its fine work.
The Atlantic Classical Orchestra’s final Palm Beach County season concert is set for 3 p.m. Tuesday, April 7, at the Eissey Campus Theatre in Palm Beach Gardens. Violinist Caroline Goulding will give the world premiere performance of a work by Colgate professor Zhou Tian on a program that also includes Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture and the Benedictus of Scotland’s Alexander Mackenzie. Tickets start at $50; call 772-460-0850 or visit www.atlanticclassicalorchestra.com.