The program, titled “The Concerto: An Adversarial Friendship,” was designed to explore the often-turbulent relationship between soloists and orchestras, and the works included, by Biber, Muffat, Schmelzer, Telemann, and Johann Sebastian Bach, fit the bill admirably.
Just as intriguing, though, was the musical time line that Wallfisch and the orchestra assembled from the performances. Beginning with a trio of Austrian program works — Schmelzer’s Balletto a 4, Die Fechtschule (Fencing school), Biber’s Battalia (The battle), and Serenada a 5, Der Nachtwachter (Nightwatchman’s call) — the ensemble traveled forward in time to a pair of suites from Muffat’s Florilegium Secundum; skipped forward a generation for two highly contrasting Telemann concertos; and wound up with Bach’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in E Major, BWV 1042.
Presiding over this neatly packaged parade of hits was Wallfisch, who is perhaps best known to Bay Area music lovers as the longtime concertmaster of the Carmel Bach Festival. The London-based violinist is a galvanizing leader, an astute musical scholar, and a fine soloist. In Saturday’s two-hour program, which repeats Oct. 16 at Herbst Theatre and Oct. 17 at the Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church, those qualities came together in performances of considerable style and allure.
Saturday’s performance didn’t represent business as usual for the Philharmonia Baroque players: The violins and violas performed standing up, rather than in their customary seated position. Over the years, these musicians have developed a refined sense of ensemble and uncommon unity of purpose. Even so, this program, with Wallfisch leading from the first-violin position, seemed to elicit a particularly dynamic response from the group.
Sumptuous Sonic Display
The evening started with Muffat’s “Inseparable Friendship” in E major from Florilegium Secundum, the composer’s second volume of instrumental music in the French style. Florilegium translates to bouquet, and this particular bouquet of nine musical flowers was written as ballet music for the “Friendship of Damon and Pythias.” The music is florid, undeniably French, and Wallfisch and the orchestra played its soft, sighing phrases and zesty dance tunes with distinction.A second installment from the same volume, Noble Youth in D minor, appeared in the second half. Here, Muffat pays tribute to various European cultures: After a brief overture, there’s “The Entry of the Spaniards,” an “Air for the Dutch,” “Gigue for the English,” and “Gavotte for the Italians.” Not surprisingly, the composer saves the best for last: a tender “Minuet for the French,” which emerged sounding wonderfully diaphanous.
Telemann was represented with the Concerto for Two Violins and Bassoon, with Wallfisch, violinist Katherine Kyme, and bassoonist Danny Bond in the solo spots; and the Sonata in C Major for Four Violins, with Wallfisch, Kyme, Lisa Grodin, and Lisa Weiss as soloists. If the playing in the latter sounded a mite cautious, the former came across in a performance that exuded charm. Then again, Wallfisch could probably charm the honey out of a bee; in Biber’s beguiling Nightwatchman’s Call, she enlisted Philharmonia’s stage manager, Alexander Kort, to sing the fourth movement’s aria. Kort, and the orchestra, sounded splendid.
The evening reached an apex of color and character with Schmelzer’s Fencing School, which depicts an athletic competition in the title academy. The students’ arrival, warm-ups, lunges and thrusts, and a furious match are outlined in crisp musical language; a refractory period supplies a note of humor. Wallfisch and the orchestra played it with élan. Even more brilliant was Biber’s Battle, with strings evoking the sound of fife and drum, a martial parade, gunshots, and even cannon blasts. Alas, mourning always follows battle; the brief but potent lament that concludes the work yielded some of the ensemble’s most refined, affecting playing of the evening.
After all the theatrical machinations, it was a relief to bask in the sonic purity of Bach’s Violin Concerto. Wallfisch and the orchestra had a bit of trouble getting in synch through the demanding passagework of the opening Allegro; the elements cohered in the slow movement, however, and the finale sparkled. Adversity, at last, was put to rest.