Concert review: Master musicians shine with ‘Don Quixote’
Ever since the programs for the 2018 Northwest BachFest were announced, fans have focused particular attention on a work which was to receive its West Coast premiere at the festival: an arrangement by the celebrated cellist Lazslo Varga (1936-2017) of Richard Strauss’ greatest orchestral work, “Don Quixote” (1897).
A glance at the full title of the work tells us why it would never have appeared at the festival in its original form: Fantastic Variations for Large Orchestra on a Theme of Knightly Character, Op. 35. Strauss, famous as a conductor as well as a composer, asks for 110 instruments in the score of “Don Quixote,” including doublings in the brass and winds, augmented strings and a vast percussion section that includes a wind machine. Barrister Winery, the host to Monday’s concert, could scarcely contain the orchestra, much less an audience.
When one of the greatest orchestrators of all time conceives of a work on such a scale, something is going to be lost when it is performed by a chamber ensemble, and, in fact, there were some balance problems inherent in the arrangement that all the skill of the performers could not solve entirely. Still, these shortcomings of the arrangement were kept to a minimum, thanks to the unflagging focus of the players, four of whom were distinguished members of the Spokane Symphony: Mateusz Wolski (concertmaster), Nick Carper (principal viola), Daniel Cotter (second clarinet) and Emily Browne (principal horn).
It was a delight to be able to hear Strauss’ solo parts played in such an intimate setting. Wolski’s passionate evocation of Quixote’s love for his imagined Dulcinea could be savored in much greater detail than would be possible in a large concert hall. One could revel in the immediacy in Carper’s playing, as he gave voice to both the coarseness and the tenderness of Quixote’s sidekick, Sancho Panza. Cotter substituted skillfully for an entire wind section, lending particular warmth to the ensemble with the bass clarinet. One was moved to search for a bottle of compressed air near the chair of Browne, who seemed perfectly at ease with Strauss’s difficult writing for horn. The piano part was perhaps the most difficult, as it had to fill in the gaps left by the removal of so many other parts. Pianist Matt Herskowitz, returning for the second time to the festival, displayed complete mastery, actually succeeding in making it appear an integral part of Strauss’ conception, while in fact no piano appears in the original score.
The role of Quixote himself is given to the cello, and it runs the gamut of emotion from comical bluster to lofty passion and, ultimately, quiet resignation. Zuill Bailey left all technical challenges in the dust, focusing, rather, on conveying all the tragicomic pathos of Miguel Cervantes’ timeless character. To witness Bailey, one of today’s masters of the instrument, perform this part at a distance of 6 feet, while one sips from a glass of delicious wine, is a pleasure to which life offers few equals.
The balance of the evening was devoted to a wonderful performance of a slight but enchanting work, the Sextet for Strings and Winds in C major Op. 37 of Ernst von Dohnanyi (1877-1960), a gifted pianist as well as composer who spent the final years of his life teaching in Florida. The sextet is not terribly substantial, and its melodies are forgotten as soon as they are heard, but it is so vivacious, so skillfully constructed, and its harmonies so piquant and surprising, that one cannot help but feel exhilarated and grateful for having heard it, especially in such a performance as we heard on Monday night, in which every one of Wolski’s sly or teasing inflections was perfectly matched by every player. Bailey’s face beamed when it was over, and he turned to the group to give them a thumbs-up, as if to say, “Man, we nailed that one!” Indeed they had.