DUTIFUL HAYDN AT AMBASSADOR : DUERR CONDUCTS ‘THE SEASONS’

With “The Seasons,” Haydn has daunted many an organization better endowed and more powerful than the Pasadena Chamber Orchestra. The sprawling oratorio represents a fragile fusion of the sophisticated and the simplistic, the intimate and the grandiose, the innocently lyrical and the naively dramatic.

To make its wonted impact, the work requires a conductor especially sensitive to matters of period style and to matters of expressive illumination. Also necessary are a suave and flexible chorus and an orchestra that can shimmer transparently one moment and be gently bombastic the next, not to mention three operatic soloists adept at vocal filigree and at rhetorical affect that spans piety and whimsy.

Tuesday night at Ambassador Auditorium, the young Pasadenans made a brave stab at “The Seasons.” Robert Duerr, the intrepid maestro, employed forces of appropriately modest size, phrased crisply, favored brisk speeds, utilized the valid English translation of Alice Parker and Thomas Pyle, even accompanied the recitatives himself on a reasonably authentic fortepiano.

Nevertheless, the results were more often dutiful than beautiful.

Part of the blame may rest with the reverberant Ambassador acoustic. Balances and sonic definition tended to go awry at an aisle seat downstairs in Row L. Reception actually improved at the extreme side of Row U, under the balcony. The improvement, unfortunately, was only a matter of degree.

Much of the blame must rest with Duerr, who often seemed more intent on reproducing notes than on making music. For the most part, he beat time with his right hand, reserving his under-employed left hand for page turning. At recitative time, he plunked out some clunky chords while standing at the tiny keyboard; in the process he sometimes lost contact both with the singers and with the far away string bass. Under the circumstances, one couldn’t be too surprised that the performance offered little dynamic shading, emotional nuance or finesse.

The progress from Spring to Winter proved uneventful. Climatic conditions throughout remained mild.

The Chamber Orchestra coped roughly with Haydn’s quaint pictorial devices and remained stubbornly earthbound when confronted with the possibility of ethereal flight. The Chamber Orchestra Chorus sang fluently, sturdily, monochromatically.

Best of the vocal trio, by far, was David Evitts, who brought pungent tone, impeccable diction and nice extroversion to the baritone solos. Jane Thorngren piped the soprano lines high and pretty while swallowing 90% of the requisite consonants. Stanley Cornett dispatched the tenorial duties with terminal timidity.