MUSIC REVIEW : An Eloquent Case for Glass Armonica

When Wanda Ladowska started to play Bach on the harpsichord early in this century, people laughed. Everyone knew that, by a process of unassailable Darwinian progress, the piano had replaced the obsolete harpsichord. The pioneering Polish keyboard player ignored the wisdom of her time, however, and eventually succeeded in reviving the harpsichord as a viable instrument for the performance of 17th- and 18th-Century music. She even elicited compositions from contemporary composers for the antique instrument.

Dennis James may be the Landowska of the glass armonica, a once popular 18th-Century instrument invented by Benjamin Franklin. No other instrument replaced the delicate-sounding glass armonica, but by the middle of the 19th Century it had fallen into obscurity.

At the Kingston Mainly Mozart Festival concert Sunday night at the Spreckels Theatre, James played both of the pieces Mozart wrote for the odd instrument.

James’ eloquent, sensitively shaded interpretations of the Adagio and Rondo, K. 617, and the Adagio, K. 356, made a winning case for his instrument, which sounded like a delicately voiced organ stop. (An organist by training, James is known to local audiences as the regular theater organist for the San Diego Symphony’s Nickelodeon silent film series.)

In the Adagio and Rondo, James’ instrument blendly effortlessly with the flute, oboe, viola and cello. The ensemble aptly captured the graceful, if slightly precious, character of a musical diversion for the society of the Enlightenment.

In a solo role, the glass armonica filled the theater with its shimmering, almost eerie timbre. It’s not surprising that Donizetti originally called for the glass armonica to accompany the unhinged heroine in her celebrated “Mad Scene” from “Lucia di Lammermoor.”

The rest of the program turned its back on Mozart. Classical guitarist Pepe Romero’s contributions made this Mainly Mozart offering barely Mozart, since the guitar completely eluded Mozart’s interest. The popular guitarist from Del Mar made a superficial connection to the festival theme by playing Fernando Sor’s rather academic “Variations on a Theme by Mozart,” but quickly ventured far afield to Johann Mertz’s Lisztian showpiece “Hungarian Fantasy” to entertain the roughly 1,000 people, including a vocal contingent of Romero fans.

The guitarist’s most successful endeavor was a lively chamber version of Mauro Giuliani’s First Guitar Concerto. Assisted by five festival strings under the thoughtful direction of concertmaster William Preucil, the well-paced Giuliani Concerto sparkled with adroit exchanges among the instrumental voices. Romero’s fleet fingering and snappy passage work proved a fine foil to Preucil’s silvery legato line.

For his final piece, Romero chose Boccherini’s Guitar Quintet No. 4 in D Major. But, despite the fiery fandango finale, most of the work noodled along with little purpose. The earnest efforts by Romero and four festival string players failed to redeem the Boccherini Guitar Quintet, which rivals only the Pachelbel Canon in twiddling tedium.