Felix Mendelssohn: Octet
Joshua Bell: Violin
Alessandro Carbonare: Clarinet
Andrea Obiso: Violin
Alberto Mina: Violin
David Romano: Violin
Simone Briatore: Viola
David Bursack: Viola
Luigi Piovano: Cello
Diego Romano: Cello
Just as March has been leisurely unfolding with the vivid memory of the superlative singing I heard last month in Naples, I have also been slowly but surely preparing myself for some superlative instrumental music-making in Rome as a few distinguished members of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia were about to welcome no less than American superstar violinist Joshua Bell, the orchestra’s current artist in residence, for a chamber music concert that would include one of my all-time favorite classical music pieces in Felix Mendelssohn’s flawlessly polished and irresistibly uplifting Octet.
The first half of the program would be dedicated to Johannes Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet in B Minor, Op. 115, a work that I was not familiar with, but since the composer was my beloved Brahms, I was more than willing to give it a shot. Just because I do not particularly care for the sound of the clarinet does not mean that I cannot appreciate it.
So last Monday evening, after a protein-filled dinner and a reasonable amount of caffeine, I eagerly headed to the Sala Sinopoli of the Auditorium Parco della Musica at the ungodly hour of 8:30 PM to find quite a few empty seats in the admittedly sizable concert hall, which was a surprise considering the line-up and the program. That said, the concert-goers occupying seats easily made up for it with sheer excitement and staunch dedication, and ended up being richly rewarded for it.
When it comes to star wattage in the world of classical music, it is hard to beat Joshua Bell, who has been one of the genre’s most popular representatives and advocates for decades now, and who is thankfully showing no signs of slowing down his non-stop globe-trotting and virtuosic playing. And there he was on Monday night, occupying the position of first violin and yet effortlessly blending in with four musicians of Rome’s home orchestra as the ensemble was expertly working its way through Brahms’ exquisitely melancholic Clarinet Quintet.
The composer was 58 years old when he wrote this outstanding piece, and it is not a far stretch to assume that he was contemplating the autumn of his life, or at least of his youth, as he was putting it together. The quintet is unabashedly romantic and does not shy from expressing complex emotions, but it also steers clear of any sentimentality or grand gestures. On Monday evening, the heartfelt performance of it was not only a pleasure to the ear, but also an insightful glimpse into the undeniable sensitivity of the reputedly grumpy old man.
After Brahms’ thoughtful musing on middle age (Tell me about it) and the intermission, the time had come to indulge in Mendelssohn’s brazenly sunny outlook on life via the octet he came up with when he was a mere 16-year-old youngster. And sure enough, maybe because of its sprightly verve, maybe because of its compositional brilliance, the boldly assertive work immediately electrified the atmosphere and kept everybody’s attention for the following half-hour or so. Let’s face it, who does not need a little pick-me-up nowadays?
On Monday evening, the cheering-up capacity of the Octet was on full display as the eight musicians bringing it to life delivered a dynamite performance of it, adroitly using their technical expertise to convey happy-go-lucky insouciance and unbridled joie de vivre. Here again, Bell proved to be a confident and respectful leader, his fellow stringers proved to be supremely talented, and the outcome was gloriously satisfying. Even the bunch of coins that suddenly fell on the floor from a nearby pocket and temporarily distracted my section during the lovely Andante were not enough to damper our totally elevated spirits.
After such a resounding success, what more could be done? Well, Bell could have done a solo encore, of course, but he had clearly decided to share the limelight until the very end, and without further ado, quickly led the other seven musicians into another go at the Octet’s dazzling Scherzo to everybody’s delight.
