Kendall, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra Pair Vivaldi, Piazzolla

Nicholas Kendall

Vivaldi and Piazzolla interwoven.
   Such was the fabric of Sunday evening’s remarkable concert by violinist Nicholas Kendall and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra in Anderson Theater on Five-Mile Road in Anderson Township (in the new Anderson Center).  CCO music director Mischa Santora conducted.

Mischa Santora

   The program, first of two "Musical Seasons" concerts by the CCO this month, featured Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” and Astor Piazzolla’s “Cuatro Estaciones Portenos” (Four Seasons of Buenos Aires”).  The latter was adapted for violin and strings by Russian composer Leonid Desyatnikov.
   Piazzolla’s single-movement pieces alternated with the corresponding Vivaldi concertos, with the exception of Autumn and Winter, where only Piazzolla’s “Autumn” and Vivaldi’s “Winter” were heard.  Both were performed separately in their entirety earlier in the day at Corbett Auditorium, first Vivaldi’s “Seasons,” then after intermission, Piazzolla’s.  I wonder if the effect was as delicious, especially with the Vivaldi quotes Desyatnikov inserted into Piazzolla’s tango-laced music.
   Pairing and interleaving the two works has been done before, but I doubt with as much unbridled enthusiasm as by the 29-year-old, spiky-haired Kendall, Santora (his classmate from Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music) and the CCO.
    The CCO included many substitute players since the orchestra’s sizeable Cincinnati Symphony contingent was busy at Music Hall with Cincinnati Opera’s “Madame Butterfly.”  All played with great skill and zest, making it an evening to remember.
    Composed during the 1960s, “Cuatro Estaciones Portenos” began as four separate pieces for bandoneon (Argentine accordion) and chamber ensemble.  Though intended as a nod to Vivaldi, they are not programmatic the way his Concertos are, but were conceived as absolute music, combining elements of tango, jazz, 20^th-century modernism and other streams of contemporary music.
    In addition to conducting the concert, Santora served as off-the-cuff annotator and read the poetic verses Vivaldi wrote to go along with his “Four Seasons.”
    “Primavera Portena” (“Buenos Aires Spring”) opened with a vigorous fugato, a reminder that the man who pioneered nuevo tango was rigorously trained in classical techniques (he studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris at one point).  And how gritty and up to date it sounded here, with second violinist Manami White literally “scratching” behind the bridge with her bow.  When Kendall entered, it was with a snippet of the falling-down-drunk scales heard in the first movement of Vivaldi’s “Autumn.”  Yes, autumn, a playful touch added by Desyatnikov because the seasons are reversed in the Southern Hemisphere (the same kind of cross references are made in the other Piazzolla movements).  “Buenos Aires Spring” also featured steamy tango tunes where Kendall slid languorously into his notes.
    Vivaldi’s Concertos were performed in an almost exaggeratedly baroque style, with very brisk tempos, selective or no vibrato and hyper-expressiveness geared to Vivaldi’s verses.  The “birds” that opened “Spring” -- Kendall, concertmistress Amy Kiradjieff and White -- chirped sweetly, and the soft zephyrs that followed were swift and light, with lute stops on the harpsichord (Christina Haan).  Principal violist Heidi Yenney, the “barking” dog in the Largo, utilized plain, vibrato-less bow strokes for a realistic effect.
    Piazzolla’s “Verano Porteno” (“Summer”) included another climatological observation, with buffeting winds and shivers from Vivaldi’s “Winter” heard near the beginning and the end.  There was also an abundance of warm-toned melody, double bass strings snapped against the keyboard and screeching, double-stopped glissandi by Kendall.  It ended with a sound like a popped tire, which set the tone beautifully for the listless, “deflated” opening of Vivaldi’s “Summer.”  Things really got exciting when Kendall and the CCO dug into their strings as the fearful gale threatened to break.
    One of the loveliest tone pictures of the evening was the Adagio of “Summer,” where Kendall turned to the orchestra, his violin’s plaintive solo heard against tiny shudders of thunder ( Kendall did this often during the evening to enhance ensemble unity).  It made a fine prelude to the concluding “perfect storm” Presto, where the strings playing close to the bridge wreaked merciless damage on crops and fields.
    Piazzolla’s “Otono Porteno (“Buenos Aires Autumn”) featured principal cellist Patrick Binford in a beautiful solo that began a bit like Bach, then turned baneful over pulsing bass pizzicato and hazy string harmonics.  With a jazzy leap, it was back to Kendall in a dramatic, quasi-cadenza that turned reflective before the movement ended on a brief, dissonant crunch by the CCO.
    Kendall and the orchestra reached programmatic heights in Vivaldi’s teeth-chattering “Winter,” where Kendall took the outer movements at unbelievable speed.  The Largo, set by Vivaldi “indoors” by the fire, was meltingly beautiful, with merry pizzicato accompaniment and a tender, extended trill at the end.
   Santora opened the concert with Hungarian composer Zoltan Kodaly’s “Summer Evening,” an episodic, Magyar-flavored tone poem that featured lovely English horn solos by Mark Ostoich.
   The audience in the 200-seat theater responded with an immediate standing ovation, signaling an enthusiastic constituency for the CCO in its new suburban venue, a comfortable, welcoming theater with good, if somewhat dry, acoustics.
    The CCO’s “Musical Seasons” concludes June 22 at 2 p.m. in Corbett Auditorium at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, 7:30 p.m. at Anderson Center.  On the program are Copland’s “Appalachian Spring,” Haydn’s Symphony No. 6 (“Le Matin”), Barber’s “Knoxville, Summer of 1915,” Cincinnati composer Robert Johnson’s “Three American Landscapes” in its world premiere and songs by Gershwin, “S’Wonderful,” “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “They Can’t Take That Away,” “The Man I Love” and “Summertime.”  Soprano soloist is Indra Thomas.  Note: Barber’s “ Knoxville” will not be performed at Anderson Center.
    Tickets are $15 and $25 at CCM, $15 at Anderson, free for children 18 and under with a ticketed adult.  Call (513) 723-1182, ext.102, or visit www.ccocincinnati.com.