Review: Packed house for dynamic 'Strings meet Winds'

LANCASTER – Enjoying the comforts of Shaw's Restaurant, the venue for "Strings meet Winds," is a great way to spend an afternoon.

A packed house listened to a program showcasing wind players, backed by strings, all from the Lancaster Festival Orchestra. WOSU's Chris Purdy hosted in his inimitable style, bringing his knowledge and and his wit.

The program began with the music of Johann Christian Bach, known for returning many of the classical aspects after a lavish Baroque period. Keith Thomas was confident and in command throughout, especially with the frequent dynamic contrasts and accents in the first movement.

The second movement, although a slower tempo, demonstrated Thomas' virtuosity, as he delivered the notes of the fastest passages with clean articulation and beautiful ornamentation. It was a sparkling performance.

Leslie Nicholas was featured on a work by Crusell, possibly the best known Finnish composer until Sebelius, and the piece was a wonderful vehicle to show his exceptional musicality and style.

He has a lovely clarinet sound and plays with taste and restraint, maintained throughout the rapid passages. It should be noted that the strings were effective in support on the second movement, so nice that Nicholas thanked them in advance.

Purdy asked the next soloist, Linda Morton Fisher, for comments about the composer of her selection, Bernard Garfield, a contemporary writer, and she was quick to mention that Garfield also played bassoon.

In the opening Allegro, all players including the soloist had demanding lines that showed their technical abilities. Dissonance was used often as the composer seemed to be striving for different sounds, once combining the bassoon, in a low range, with the cello, and it was startlingly effective.

Garfield calls his music "expressive and melodic," but in the third movement, it required great flexibility of Fisher as she spent time in every range of the instrument, something audiences always enjoy hearing with bassoon.

The final selection, Mozart's "Quintet for Horn and Strings," featured Joshua Michal, and also Mozart's genius; he scored the work for two violas, which combined with cello lowers the sound range, blending more easily with horn. That's the only favor that Mozart granted; large intervals and extreme range demands forced Michal to use all his talents.

The final movement demanded everything of him, and the lip trills and arpeggios on the cadenza were the icing on this musical cake.

Surely everyone had a favorite memory to take home from the afternoon of beautiful chamber music.