MUSIC REVIEW : Mozart Camerata Launches 11th Season on High Note

Beginning its 11th season with a concert at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Auditorium, the Mozart Camerata continued to shine with the same polish that has distinguished previous appearances.

Music Director Ami Porat bills his ensemble as a “Classical Orchestra,” and though the selections do not always fall into that historical period, the transparent clarity associated with that era is a hallmark of this group. Friday night, a program of Rossini, Beethoven and Mozart emerged clean, precise and energetic, admirably controlled despite echoey acoustics in the church.

Pianist Daniel Pollack joined the orchestra as the protagonist in Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto. Pollack is perhaps best known to the general public for his prize-winning, pyrotechnic ghost performance (for actress Amy Irving) of Prokofiev’s Third Concerto in the movie “The Competition.” He brought the same technical mastery to serve an abundantly lyrical reading of the fifth Beethoven concerto.

Beethoven offers the pianist a wealth of opportunity for virtuosic display in this work. But Pollack emphasized beauty over bravura, even in some of the most tempting chordal passages of the opening movement. And while the pianist drew less contrast between lyric and tense sections than did his orchestral cohorts, he nevertheless held appealing command.

There were some exciting moments of abandon in Pollack’s performance--larger-than-life chordal sections and fiery scale passages with which to close the Rondo. Still, his caressing attention to a naturally unfolding, sweeping line in the Poco adagio, defined by thoughtfully weighting each note, created the most lasting impression.

On their part, orchestral members brought the same spirit to their well-honed machine that characterized their reading of Rossini’s Overture to “L’Inganno Felice” and Mozart’s “Linz” Symphony. Porat knows how to demand a gracefully majestic phrase and still keep overall structure in sight. As witnessed particularly by the symphony, he seems to encourage sympathetic listening among his players, both individually and in sections. The piece shimmered with an illuminating interplay of lines defined by apt control of dynamics and accent, all unhindered by even the most vigorous of presto finales.