Ticket holders for the season opener of the Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra last night got two concerts for the price of one.
The first half of the performance at Weber Music Hall on the University of Minnesota Duluth campus consisted of three highly individual pieces; the second half was one piece in three move-ments highlighting one incredible individual.
To begin this 21st season, music director Warren Friesen chose music by Gioacchino Rossini, Osvaldo Golijov, Wolfgang Mozart, and Peter Tchaikovsky. Overtures often open operas, so the overture to Rossini's opera La Cenerentola (Cinderella) was on target. The orchestra was crisp, playing cleanly together. Weber Hall typically is kind to smaller ensembles, and this was true last night. The effervescent interplay between the clarinet and piccolo was particularly brilliant as it bounced off the wooden walls.
Mozart's Symphony 25 opened with enough energy to jolt everyone in the audience to full atten-tion. Friesen kept the first movement delightfully on edge, but lost some momentum as the work proceeded. The pace seemed to slacken in the Menuetto and never quite got back the driving force. One had to take notice of the four French horns in the final movement. Mozart left their lines ex-posed, and frequently high in the register. A certain irregularity created a sense of misplaced punc-tuation in a short story.
Golijov is much less familiar than Mozart. Born in Argentina in 1960, he has lived in Israel and Massachusetts, and inserts aspects of all of them in his compositions. "Last Round" might imply boxing, dancing or both. Much of the music is intense, though using small, repetitive themes in delicately shifting patterns. Ultimately, a beautiful song to Buenos Aires soars above the restless-ness. Two string quartets challenge each other, with a string bass in the middle. The nine players appeared to enjoy the give and take, and I wish they had played it a second time, as in a nineteenth century encore. Once was not enough.
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The second part of the concert featured violinist Erin Aldridge in a chamber performance of the exuberant Violin Concerto by Tchaikovsky. I didn't breathe for about 30 minutes. The emotional subtlety of Aldridge's bow technique could transport a listener to New York, Berlin, or Paris.
The highlight of her stellar performance was watching her push Friesen and the LSCO to play at her pace and energy level. The ensemble was up to the challenge, and it made the adrenaline flow. The gypsy passion of the first movement ran out the top of Weber's dome. Then the repose of the slow movement exploded into the frenzied romp of the finale.
LSCO and the soloist took turns being either melodically emotional or dead set on out racing the other, but they both win. Aldridge magically creates a full-bodied tone, with all her finger work precisely on pitch and rhythmically riveting. She forces the LSCO to play at her level, and last night they did.
Samuel Black is a Duluth pianist who frequently reviews classical performances for the News Tribune.
