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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

Giant snowflakes, the Plaza lights, and Unity Temple's holiday bunting chock full of tiny white lights all provided for a lovely backdrop for the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra's performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons last Tuesday.

Using four different violin soloists (Anne-Marie Brown, Anthony DeMarco, Tamamo Gibbs, and Dorris Dai Janssen) for each of the movements was a great idea on paper, but the inevitable comparisons between the soloists detracted somewhat from the performance. 

The ensemble, under maestro Bruce Sorrell, opened with Vivaldi's Concerto for Four Violins in B Minor, Op. 3, No. 10.  The blend was superb between the soloists in their concertante sections.  The bare-bones accompanying ensemble of single player on viola, cello, bass, and harpsichord provided the light touch and transparency needed to keep the sixteenth notes clean and the textures unmuddled.

As soloist for the ubiquitous "Spring" Dorris Janssen had the daunting task of the performing the one Season that everyone knows by heart.   She handled the responsibility admirably.  She would emerge out of the homogenous textures and retreat back within showing an intimate knowledge of the score. 

Tamamo Gibbs, soloist for "Summer," showcased an aggressive approach to the fiery concerto.  I found some of the passages to be a played tad harsh, but her bow-control was excellent in the Adagio portion of the second movement.  Her unbroken diminuendo was marvelous.  The concerto began with some questionable intonation, but she soon settled into the pitch.

Similar intonation problems plagued the beginning of "Autumn" with soloist Anthony DeMarco.  The Presto section of the second movement was dazzling, however, and the double stops of the caccia in the third movement were navigated with confidence belying their trickiness.

The standout of the evening (befitting the snowy evening) was Anne-Marie Brown's performance of "Winter."  The piece is striking in its prominent use of controlled dissonance. Brown's playing was stellar with lyricism and technique to spare.  With the use of sul ponticello and pizzicato Vivaldi's score contained all the iciness of the season.

REVIEW:
Kansas City Chamber Orchestra
Vivaldi's Four Seasons
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Unity Temple of the Plaza, Kansas City, MO
For more information visit www.kcchamberorchestra.org

Top photo: Tony DeMarco

By Lee Hartman

Editor-in-Chief; Traditional and New Classical Contributor

Lee Hartman holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (D.M.A., M.M.) and the University of Delaware (B.M.). At the University of Delaware, he received a Dean's Scholar position enabling him to pursue an individually designed academic program combining music education and composition. At the University of Missouri-Kansas City he served for three years as the Assistant Director to Musica Nova, the conservatory's new music ensemble, while teaching a variety of composition classes.

In 2007 he was invited to both the Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík, Iceland and the Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, China to give lectures and master classes in composition. In the summer of 2009, Hartman served as an orchestra manager for the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble and Aspen Opera Theater Center for various performances. He serves on the National Executive Committee of the Society of Composers, Inc. as Submissions Coordinator. His primary composition instructors include James Mobberley, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Paul Rudy, John Beall, and Jennifer Margaret Barker. He currently teaches music theory at the University of Central Missouri and general music classes at Park University having previously taught at UD (2007–08) and UMKC (2006–07).

His compositions can be found at http://www.leehartmanmusic.com