MUSIC REVIEW : Hobson’s Choice Was Mixed Blessing for Chamber Orchestra

Three years ago, San Diego boasted three aspiring chamber orchestras. While only the San Diego Chamber Orchestra remains, it has done more than just survive. Now in its fifth season, music director Donald Barra’s orchestra demonstrated a sign of its new-found maturity by presenting in concert its first guest conductor, Ian Hobson.

For many newer chamber orchestras, hiring a guest conductor represents a fiscally imprudent luxury. And for those ensembles whose founder is still on the podium, certain territorial claims mitigate against such an invitation being extended. After all, these founding conductors have expended their baton, sweat and tears to launch and build the organization. Monday night, however, maestro Barra joined the audience at La Jolla’s Sherwood Auditorium to watch Hobson do double duty on stage as conductor and keyboard soloist.

As a conductor, the young English musician was direct and uncomplicated, eschewing both fancy choreography and mysterious, arm-waving hocus-pocus. The orchestra’s response to Hobson was equally plain and straight forward--it was not an evening of great subtlely.

Hobson was at his best seated at the harpsichord, contributing his stylish keyboard part while keeping the orchestra together with modest cues. Unfortunately, Hobson was faced with an out-of-tune instrument. In the Fifth Brandenburg Concerto by J.S. Bach, Hobson appeared to rush through his virtuoso cadenza rather than linger in the throes of such tonal distortion.

He did his best to complement the other soloists, violinist Igor Gruppman and flutist Damian Bursill-Hall. For this Baroque gem, Gruppman tamed his more effulgent performance style and matched the stylish dynamic contrasts chosen by Bursill-Hall, although none of the other performers equalled the flutist’s unfailing sense of Baroque accent and shading. Bursill-Hall was also featured in Telemann’s D Major Flute Concerto, a deservedly neglected solo vehicle.

The chamber orchestra flayed Dvorak’s E Major Serenade, removing its ingratiating veneer and exposing a raucous skeleton the poor old composer probably would not have recognized. This rough reading sounded sadly under-rehearsed.

The players were more successful with Stravinsky’s Concerto in D (1946), an infrequently performed neoclassical essay for strings alone. In this work they managed to sound fresh and vital, qualities also evident in the opening “Capriol Suite” by the British composer Peter Warlock.

To this orchestra Hobson brought a welcome sense of unhackneyed programming. He could not overcome the difficulties of a stodgy, inflexible violin section, nor could he escape the condition of the harpsichord. Nevertheless, he acquitted himself well. Music director Barra should return to his podium rested and with some determination to improve his violin roster.