Three delights for smaller orchestra were bundled into Wednesday’s second Intermezzo program, making for a memorable late-afternoon affair.
It’s hard to go wrong scheduling a Rossini overture for any concert. And the bubbly ones to his comic operas – like L’Italiana in Algieri, heard here – are especially welcome. In the capable hands of the Spoleto Festival Orchestra and conductor Anthony Barrese, this one sparkled and charmed.
Then came a real rarity: Giovanni Bottessini’s brash and bouncy Grand Duo Concertante for solo violin and double bass plus a hefty chamber orchestra (three trombones & a tuba!). Back in the 19th century, Bottesini was kind of the Paganini of the double bass, and wrote lots of brilliant stuff for his instrument. Imagine a bowed double bass scampering around like a violin on fire, and you’ll get the idea. Virtuoso bassist Aaron John Baird, of the SFO, did some amazing things you’ve probably never heard from a bass fiddle before – and violinist Melissa Ann Ussery kept right up with him – sounding just about as good, despite a few slight snatches of questionable intonation.
Finally, the SFO’s gifted strings players left us all aglow with Tchaikovsky’s lush and incredibly warm Serenade for Strings – one of the sunniest works we have from a composer who can be a real sad sack when the depression hits. The composer himself told his publisher that he was “violently in love” with the piece – and so were we, after hearing it today.
Hey, folks – the crowd was a good one, but there were quite a few unoccupied pews in the back and balconies of St. Matthews. Could it be that they’re not selling the Intermezzi concerts out this year? A good omen for those of you who’d like to catch the three remaining programs there.
