Princeton Town Topics reviews Vivaldi's Four Seasons
Princeton Town Topics writes:
For its annual Thanksgiving weekend concert this year, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO) looked back through music history. NJSO concertmaster Eric Wyrick served as both conductor and violin soloist for three works harking back to the days before conductors formally stood in front of orchestras. Friday night’s NJSO performance in Richardson Auditorium showed the nearly full house how an instrumental ensemble can work within itself to create music rooted in solid communication and musical trust.
In his career, Mr. Wyrick has had extensive experience as both a follower and a leader in an ensemble; in conjunction with his position as concertmaster of NJSO, he regularly appears as soloist with orchestras worldwide and has recorded an extensive repertory. Friday night’s concert was centered on Antonio Vivaldi’s early 18th-century concerto set The Four Seasons, for which Mr. Wyrick served as violin soloist. In the four concerti selected, a chamber-sized NJSO demonstrated the true orchestral intricacy of 18th-century music with themes passed among players and complex musical conversations. Mr. Wyrick brought The Four Seasons into the 21st century by playing off an iPad, and added a wealth of 19th and 20th-century interpretive style to music which is sometimes considered repetitive. In this performance, nothing was boring, and there was tremendous variety in dynamics, contrast, and melodic lines.
Throughout the 12 movements of Vivaldi’s work, Mr. Wyrick maneuvered well from the long melodic lines of the inner slow movements to the ferocious virtuosity of the closing “Prestos” and “Allegros.” While the ensemble violinists played without excessive vibrato, Mr. Wyrick added a bit of color to the solo lines. The solo violin was often paired with solo cello, perfectly timed and elegantly played by NJSO principal cellist Stephen Fang. Principal violist Frank Foerster provided a clean contrast to Mr. Wyrick’s solo violin in the middle movement “Largo” of the opening “Spring,” and Mr. Wyrick was paired multiple times with violinists Brennan Sweet and Francine Storck, creating lively melodic interplay. The musicians of the NJSO well captured Vivaldi’s depictions of the seasons, ranging from the blazing heat of summer to the icy starkness of the dead of winter.
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From the outset of [Respighi’s Ancient Airs and Dances] Suite No. 1, Mr. Wyrick led the orchestra in an interpretation which was light and delicate. The addition of winds to the orchestral color was clean, marked by graceful oboe solos throughout the work by Nick Masterson. Harpsichordist Robert Wolinsky was a constant foundation throughout the work (as he was throughout the evening) and a flowing harp played by [Barbara] Allen added a modern touch to the orchestral color. Throughout the suite, the NJSO created a pastoral atmosphere recalling a 17th-century countryside, exemplifying the musical precision and accuracy which marked the entire evening.