MUSIC REVIEW : Camerata Puts Niceties Aside for Phrasing

One generation looking toward another proved common to two of the three works for strings played by the Mozart Camerata under the direction of Ami Porat on Saturday at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church.

The soloists in Bach’s Concerto in D minor for Two Violins were Camerata concertmaster Endre Granat (also concertmaster of the Pacific Symphony) and Dorota Anderszewska, a student of Granat at CalArts in Valencia and a member of the Camerata.

While Granat played with sweetness, strength and subtlety, Anderszewska, perhaps understandably experiencing some nerves in the situation, tended toward matching but self-effacing statement. One also heard instances of dislocated partnership.

Neither the soloists nor the conductor appeared too preoccupied with reproducing period-style niceties regarding short, crisp detached bowing or vibratoless tone. Instead, they concentrated on lyric, forceful and rounded-over phrasing.

For encores, the soloists played three pieces from the books of Duos for two violins by Bartok.

Josef Suk, a student of Dvorak who would later marry his daughter Otilie, composed his Serenade in E-flat for String Orchestra in 1892 when he was 18, undoubtedly drawing on the earlier composer’s Serenade in E as a model.

Suk’s Serenade also gives off a sense of outdoor airiness, although the composer etches his themes with more boldness and allows the shadows to intrude more quickly.

Porat drew out the drama with commitment and attention but was unable to overcome the squareness of the Adagio theme. Although there were moments of blurred articulation and apparent loss of shape and direction, the ensemble generally responded with unanimity and precision.

The conductor opened the program with Franz Benda’s Symphony in C, eliciting the springy elegance and optimistic spirit of the work with well-judged dynamics and a sense of spontaneity.