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The Kansas City Chamber Orchestra (KCCO) opened its Mozart Festival Weekend on Friday, June 19, at the Unity Temple on the Plaza with a well-chosen program of three of Mozart's enduring masterpieces. Festive elements included a costumed actor in the role of Maestro Mozart, who mingled among audience members before the concert, and a post-concert buffet reception downstairs at Eden Alley restaurant. It was all-around refreshment for body and soul.

Guest conductor Gregory Pritchard, music director of the Gainesville (Ga.) Symphony Orchestra, directed the ensemble at the invitation of KCCO music director Bruce Sorrell. Pritchard elicited stirring musical expression in the seldom-heard Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K 546. The work originated in 1783 as a fugue composed for two pianos during a period when Mozart was studying the fugues of Bach. In 1788, the same year he composed his final three symphonies; Mozart orchestrated the fugue for strings and added the dark and mysterious Adagio as a prelude. The well-executed fugue unfolded marvelously in the style of Bach with a Mozartean accent. The energy of the strings momentarily lagged toward the end of the fugue, but the musical content was so engaging that it left one lamenting that it was over too fast. The work provided an excellent anchor to the sunny concerti that filled the rest of the program.

After hearing Lolita Lisovskaya play numerous times in concerts at Park University, where she serves as director of collaborative piano at the International Center for Music, I make a point to hear any concert featuring her. Her performance of the Piano Concerto No. 23 in E-flat major, K. 488 was a high point of the evening. Her meticulous attention to details, clean rhythmic impetus, and lyrical shaping of every note within the larger context made this an evening to remember.

Particularly moving was Lisovskaya's thoughtful interpretation of the second movement. The only movement of all Mozart's concerti to have been composed in the key of F-sharp minor, it is regarded as one of the masterpieces of all time in its beautiful evocation of sorrow. Lisovskaya was equal to the task, evoking poignant depth without trivializing Mozart's intent with sentimentality. Pritchard was not on par with her, and brought the strings in clumsily in delicate passages that required quiet nuance. Part of that problem may have been that he stood behind the piano to direct, and his view of the soloist, first violins, celli and bass was obscured from his position. Worthy of a mention here was the excellent balance achieved by the horns, oboes and bassoons, which added tonal color but never overpowered the ensemble.

Soloists Ben Sayevich, violin, and Brant Bayless, viola, were featured in the Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major, K. 364.  Sayevich, who served as concertmaster of the KCCO during its first 11 years, has honed a distinguished international career both as soloist and chamber musician. He is a founding member of Quartet Accorda and the Park Trio, and is the violinist of the Rosamunde Piano Trio in London. Sayevich was well matched by Bayless, the outstanding principal violist of the Utah Symphony who  graced the performance with his luscious warm tone and an effortless technical agility equal to his violin counterpart. The two seemed to spur each other to greater heights as the work progressed. The duet cadenza in the second movement held the audience spellbound as the two voices intertwined in the style of a Bach solo violin partita, tying back to the opening work of the program. The orchestra seemed a bit off in the last movement, with lackluster accompaniment in the violins. Again, this may have been due to lack of visual contact with Pritchard, who despite the absence of the piano on stage, directed from the middle of the ensemble where he could not view either the soloists or the first violins, which lagged consistently. Undaunted, Sayevich and Bayless delivered exciting performances, bringing the audience to its feet at the close of the work. 

REVIEW
Kansas City Chamber Orchestra
Mozart Festival Weekend
Guest Conductor Gregory Pritchard
Friday, June 19 at 8 p.m.
Unity Temple on the Plaza
707 West 47th St., Kansas City, MO

By Gayle G. Hathorne

Classical and Vocal Contributor (Past writer)