Music Reviews : Camerata’s Risk-Free Finale

For the season finale of the Mozart Camerata on Sunday afternoon, conductor Ami Porat put together a can’t-lose program of Mendelssohn and Schubert and invited back a popular and frequent visitor from seasons past as soloist, Corey Cerovsek. The soloist delivered, the orchestra played well and Porat gave lovable readings. Difficult to ask for more.

Except, perhaps, for a little risk. Hanging over this concert at St. Andrew’s Church was a distinct air of foregone conclusion. The music didn’t challenge, dare or surprise. It was exceedingly easy to like, but that was about as far as one’s emotions could go.

To open, Cerovsek--a talented dual instrumentalist (piano and violin) appearing in a single role this time--showed that he could do what a lot of others have done before him--that is, make Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto a compelling affair. He revealed great enthusiasm for his task, leaping forward in the music with athletic abandon.

His technique was sure-fire, and he made a particularly strong impression in an extra-brisk and nimble finale. But this concerto is more famous for its melodies than fireworks, and here too Cerovsek proved up to the job. Never putting too fine a point on them, he gave the lyrical flights and quiet tunes their due, soaring and long-limbed up high, simple and aptly straightforward elsewhere.

Some passing roughness in tone and a too-generous application of vibrato hardly detracted, and Porat and the Camerata accompanied handily.

*

In Schubert’s Symphony No. 4, nicknamed “Tragic” by its 19-year-old composer, Porat outlined the stormy rhetoric with heavy accents and propulsive rhythms. He coaxed clean ensemble playing from his musicians, pointed up details in phrases and threw light upon dramatic contrasts. Only in the busy fortes did some of the textures grow cloudy, as much a problem with the lively acoustic as anything.

In encore, Porat offered an elegant string arrangement of Debussy’s “Clair de Lune,” dedicated to Ned Treuenfels, a great hornist killed in an auto accident last week.