Music Reviews : A Spirited Outing for Pianist Thies, Camerata

Conductor Ami Porat put together an intriguing program, invited a gifted young soloist along, and led his Mozart Camerata in spirited performances Sunday afternoon at St. Andrew’s Church. Hard to ask for more.

Porat even took something of a risk by opening the concert with the other Haydn’s--i.e., Michael Haydn’s--Symphony No. 22 in D, for Haydn frere has something of the reputation of being a mere craftsman. In this symphony, however, the composer dispels the adjective and elevates the noun.

A driving, faceted opening movement, a tuneful, galant second with marching bass line, and an especially impressive finale featuring distinguished contrapuntal writing, quick changes of texture and smoothly contrasted materials make this a work worth hearing.

The remarkable soloist in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2, which followed, was Robert Thies, winner of the 1991 Joanna Hodges Piano Competition in Palm Desert. In taking on this piece, the young musician seemed never at a loss for ideas, instilling every phrase with nuance, direction and vitality.

Though his presence was constantly felt, the performance was not about personal display; Thies projected his thoughts on the music and his physical involvement with it, creating a detailed narrative in the process. He phrased warmly, inflected buoyantly, voiced purposefully and executed cleanly. He even shaped scales compellingly. Let’s hope we hear him again.

*

The concert concluded with Mozart’s Symphony No. 34, a work from the composer’s second tier of creations, which nevertheless leaves it in fair competition with others’ best. In the symphonies, Porat directed the Camerata in readings that were vivacious and generally polished (there were occasional small miscues and miscalculations). In the Beethoven, he found weight and detail, while staying nicely out of Thies’ way.