Considering the span of years separating the members of the New York Chamber Soloists, which stretches from twenty-something to eighty years-old, I was anxious to see how the exuberance of youth might complement the wisdom and experience of the group’s senior members at Saturday’s Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music program.

Turns out, I’ll have to wait until the ensemble learns the pieces it programmed for this performance.

Founded by oboist Melvin Kaplan in 1952, New York Chamber Soloists is an intergenerational group of 12 instrumentalists that maintains an eclectic repertory, including some two-dozen works written especially for them by a variety of distinguished contemporary composers. But neither reputation nor longevity is any substitute for concert preparation, as Saturday’s disappointing and artistically unfulfilling performance suggests.

The program opened with a spiritless and stylistically inappropriate delivery of Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik Serenade, which like all the composer’s serenades and divertimenti were intended purely for easy-listening, light-hearted entertainment.

The principal problem with this performance lay in the thickly articulated phrasings and effusive gestures of first-violinist Harumi Rhodes, whose manner of interpretation would have been better-suited to Mozart’s more serious chamber quartets and quintets than the composer’s more frivolous serenades, which call for lightness of character and ease of execution.

There were several ensemble problems as well, such as the in the unison 16th-note passages during the Romanza which came off wobbly, as players rushed ahead of Rhodes’ steady beat. Moreover, the tempo chosen for the Menuetto was too fast, yielding more of a scherzo feel to this allegretto movement than a straightforward minuet. Things finally came together in the effervescent final movement, buoyed by Rhodes’ well-executed trills and turns, as the ensemble produced a bubbly and spirited Rondo that – at last – captured the party-like ambiance for which this piece was intended. In addition to Rhodes, the ensemble of five instruments included violinist Curtis Macomber, violist Ynez Lynch, cellist Adam Grabois and bassist Tomoya Aomori.

Prokofiev’s Quintet in G Minor (Op. 39) for oboe (Melvin Kaplan); clarinet (Allen Blustine); violin (Macomber); viola and bass is a work dating from 1924 that the composer designed to accompany a ballet about circus life. The unusual instrumentation of the work is due to the instrumentalists available to Prokofiev for the touring group (Trapez) that accompanied the ballet.

Each movement of the Quintet appears to parody some element of a circus, such as the second movement’s bass solo which, to me, suggests a pair of elephants dancing. Removed from its original context complementing the visual aspects of the ballet, however, there’s precious little musical substance in this neo-classical parody to sustain listener interest throughout its six-movements – which I consider a second-rate amalgam of Poulenc and Stravinsky. Even a good performance of this work, such as that enjoyed by the Skaneateles Festival audience this past August, does little more than place lipstick on the proverbial pig. And Saturday’s rendition can hardly be called a good performance.

In spite of best efforts of violinist Macomber (who was consistently first-rate throughout the evening), the five players found neither sufficient balance of volume nor blend of timbre to allow them to gel as a unified ensemble. Missing, too, in this performance was Prokofiev’s characteristic motor-rhythmic drive and finely honed ensemble interplay.

The oboe playing, in particular, was shaky – from the weak projection and labored playing in the first (variations) movement to the breathing problems in the painfully slow and lengthy Adagio pesante (a chops-killing movement where the oboe must sustain lengthy pitches in the instrument’s low register seemingly forever). Such a movement would be taxing even to a young player with considerable endurance and lung capacity, not to mention the now 80-year-old oboist. The one saving grace to this performance was Macomber’s snappy execution and firm rhythmic command in the pervasive 16th-note figures during the motor-rhythmic passages in this work.

Considering the two works of lighter fare that preceded it, I was especially hungry for the one work of deep substance on the program: the somber Quintet in B Minor for Clarinet and Strings of Johannes Brahms that New York Chamber Soloists served up after intermission. Turns out, this dish needed more time to cook before serving it to the crowd.

The Brahms Quintet, like Schubert’s C Major Cello Quintet, is a major component of (and one of the crowning achievements to) the chamber music repertory, one capable of taking the listener on a lengthy and fulfilling journey whose cathartic climax leaves the audience as cleansed, fulfilled (and exhausted) as the players onstage. Saturday’s performance of this warhorse was a major disappointment that left me unfulfilled and disillusioned – not to mention hungrier than ever.

The weight of this work, like most multi-movement chamber and symphonic works, is in its first movement. From the opening three measures it was apparent that this performance wasn’t ready for prime-time, as the violist couldn’t handle the precisely syncopated accompaniment figures to the violins’ on-the-beat phrases, throwing off the cellist in the process. When this same motif returned at the very end of the movement, the violist’s syncopated figures unraveled completely – destroying the sense of conclusion and fulfillment to this weighty movement.

Although Brahms clearly indicates a repeat of the first-movement exposition, the players ignored the return to the opening measure and proceeded on to the development section, as if content to shave some time off the performance at the expense of balancing out the classical sonata form favored by the composer. My guess is that the disgruntled spirit of Brahms then leveled a curse upon the ensemble: How else might you explain their bungling of the imitative three-note motif soon after the start of the development section? Those who don’t believe in paranormal experiences may prefer to conclude that the ensemble was insufficiently rehearsed for a piece that requires an extraordinary level ensemble preparation, precision of execution and balance of sonority.

The rest of the opening movement fell into place but the playing remained overly cautious, as if the players were content to avoid catastrophe rather than shape a meaningful interpretation to the work. The poignant slow movement, whose accompaniment figures pit syncopated patterns against triplets, was shaky and uneven, while poorly placed breaths in the clarinet part interrupted several of the prolonged melodic lines. Brahms’ sprightly third movement was marred by poor execution on the part of the violist and timid playing on the part of the cellist, while the fourth (variations) movement produced straightforward and uninspired playing in the lower strings.

In spite of some breathing problems in the slow movement, clarinetist Blustine was well-prepared for this performance, playing with smooth and even finger-work and producing a pleasant tone that, although lacking in dynamic contrasts, nevertheless provided a lovely timbral contrast to that of the strings. Violinists Macomber and Rhodes were beyond reproach throughout the four movements, but could do little to draw the two lower string instruments into one cohesive and synergistic musical ensemble.


Details box
What: New York Chamber Soloists
Where: Lincoln Middle School, 1613 James Street, Syracuse
When: November 7, 2009
Time: 1 hour and 50 minutes
Information: call (315) 446-3424
Ticket prices: Regular $25, Senior $15, Student $10
Website: syracusefriendsofchambermusic.org 
Next: Concertante, Dec. 5, 2009