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Chamber
LEE TRIO AT SPRING LAKE VILLAGE WITH A RARE ENCORE
by Terry McNeill
Wednesday, September 27, 2023
Symphony
SADAVA CONDUCTS ELEGANT SO CO PHIL INAUGURAL CONCERT
by Terry McNeill
Sunday, September 17, 2023
Chamber
POTENT SCRIABIN INTERPRETATIONS AT SPRING LAKE VILLAGE RECITAL
by Terry McNeill
Wednesday, August 16, 2023
Symphony
ODYSSEY IN THE SEARCH FOR YUNCHAN AT HOLLYWOOD BOWL
by Abby Wasserman
Tuesday, August 1, 2023
Chamber
VOM FESTIVAL'S CLOSING CONCERT A CELEBRATION FOR STRINGS
by Terry McNeill
Sunday, July 30, 2023
Chamber
RITE OF SPRING FOR 88 KEYS AT VOM FESTIVAL
by Pamela Hick Gailey
Saturday, July 29, 2023
Choral and Vocal
A POET'S LOVE SONG CYCLE AT VOM FESTIVAL JULY 27
by Elly Lichenstein
Thursday, July 27, 2023
Other
CHARMING "BARBER" A MENDO FESTIVAL TRIUMPH
by Pamela Hicks Gailey
Friday, July 21, 2023
Recital
RARE RAVEL IN MENDO FESTIVAL'S PRESTON HALL
by Terry McNeill
Thursday, July 20, 2023
SCHUMANN QUINTET PERFORMANCE RESCUES VOM FESTIVAL'S SECOND CONCERT
by Terry McNeill
Sunday, July 16, 2023
SYMPHONY REVIEW

Pianist and Conductor Stephen Prutsman

A MUSIC OFFERING IN A SONIC MIXTURE

by Terry McNeill
Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Bach’s iconic D Minor Clavier Concerto was the centerpiece in the fourth day of Mendocino Music Festival events July 16 in the big tent concert hall, with San Francisco-based Stephen Prutsman the featured artist.

Conducting a chamber orchestra of ten from a lidless piano, Mr. Prutsman took fast tempos and a muscular approach throughout, eschewing subtlety in favor of driving rhythms and dramatic contrasts.
His approach to this contrapuntal masterpiece featured some novel trills with speedy conclusions, pedal point and a detache touch in scale passages, all well suited to this music. It was not Bach to everyone’s taste but elicited loud applause from the 400 people in the hall.

The small orchestra, composed of five violins, two violas, two cellos and bass, managed the speedy pace well. The Adagio movement was captivating.

Mention should be made of the amplification that produced far too much volume and generated a piano tone that was brittle and lacking color. Resident technicians say amplification is required as the tent (and audience) smothers reverberation. The downsides are a lack of spatial presence for the instruments and unnatural string color and overtones. Given the physical condition of a large tent concert space there presumably is not an alternative to the electronic enhancement.

The concert began with Festival co-director Susan Waterfall’s erudite descriptions from the podium of the 1647 genesis of Bach’s “Musical Offering,” BWV 1079. This set 16 short movements is based on a flute theme of Prussian monarch Frederick the Great. In four initial canons Ms. Waterfall provided continuo at the piano and was joined by flutist Mindy Rosenfeld, violinist Jeremy Cohen and cellist Burke Schuchmann.

Bach’s stately C Minor Trio Sonata followed, a four-movement work that showcased Ms. Rosenfeld’s elegant and nimble virtuosity and the sonic support of Mr. Schuchmann’s robust cello vibrato. The tempos here were judicious, allowing the interwoven instrumental lines to be heard clearly. This ideceptively complex Baroque music was rendered convincingly for connoisseurs and those new to Bach’s late compositions.