MUSIC REVIEW : Hickox, Vogel Reaffirm L.A. Chamber’s Standards

According to reliable sources, the justifiably admired, abundantly recorded Richard Hickox last visited Southern California in 1984, appearing with his touring Northern Sinfonia at UC Irvine. By coincidence, Hickox returned here Saturday night, as guest conductor of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, in the second of three weekend concerts, this one at--guess what?--the Irvine Barclay Theatre next to UC Irvine.

The decade has been productive for the 47-year-old English musician, who seems to have become a conductor of force, vigor and finesse. In polish and energy, the ensemble--reduced here to 20, and fewer--played at the level of performance it did not reach at the season’s opening, last month.

One of several reasons was the appearance as soloist of the orchestra’s principal oboe, Allan Vogel, in Vaughan Williams’ cherishable Oboe Concerto, an indisputable masterpiece here played with the brilliance and poignancy it deserves.

Vogel made beautiful sounds expressive of the work’s ambivalent melancholy/optimistic musings, sailed through its complex and tricky cadenzas and seemed to be making it up as he went; here is a musician who demolishes bar-lines as positively as he effortlessly communicates music.

Hickox led the orchestra genially, finding and projecting five disparate styles in as many pieces, but especially in Handel’s bright Concerto Grosso in B-flat, Opus 3, No. 2, and in a deeply felt revival of Purcell’s Chacony in G minor. Music by Peter Warlock (the “Capriol” Suite) and Mozart (Symphony No. 29) also received careful, attentive and affectionate treatment.

Let the season continue!