PBO’s First Candidate Music Director

For those that do not yet know (or may have forgotten) the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale (PBO) will use its 2024/25 season to search for its next Music Director. Each of four of the five concerts in the season will be led by a different candidate; and, hopefully, a decision will be made following that season’s conclusion. Last night the first of those candidates, Grete Pedersen, came to Herbst Theatre to lead the first concert of the season, given the title Dreams and Passions.

Each of those nouns was reflected by one of the works on the program. The first of them invoked the music that Felix Mendelssohn composed for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, whose overture was the final work on the program. However, by way of “reflection” the program also began with the opening gesture of that overture leading into the first selection, an arrangement of an antiphon by Hildegard of Bingen, “O frondens virga.” This was complemented by “La Passione,” the title that Joseph Haydn gave to his Hoboken I/49 symphony in F minor.

These three selections could be taken as a beginning-middle-end framework, with the Haydn symphony preceding the intermission. However, as far as I am concerned, the high point of the evening took place immediately after the intermission, with little reflection on either dreams or passions. Principal Clarinet Thomas Carroll was the soloist in a performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 622 clarinet concerto in A major. This is probably the most frequently encountered concerto for the instrument found at symphony performances. However, because this was a “historically informed” performance, Carroll played a basset clarinet, a larger instrument than found in the clarinet section of a contemporary orchestra:

Anton Stadler 1794 sketch of a basset clarinet (from the instrument’s Wikipedia page)

Since I had learned to play this concerto in my teens, I was struck by the sonorities of Carroll’s instrument. The quality was decidedly mellower, allowing for a wider diversity in expressiveness. Thus, for all of my many past experiences, I felt as if I was encountering this supposedly familiar music for the first time.

Furthermore, this was not my only encounter with the unique qualities of a specific instrument. Before the concluding Mendelssohn overture, Douglas Yeo introduced the audience to his ophicleide. This is a low brass instrument that Mendelssohn selected instead of a tuba. There were haunting qualities in its sonorities that served well as a “preview” to the supernatural qualities of William Shakespeare’s play. It is through moments like these that one comes to appreciate just how much impact can be experienced through a “historically informed” approach to performance.

In the first half of the program, the Hildegard and Haydn selections framed Caroline Shaw’s “Entr’acte.” Sadly, Hildegard’s polyphony ended up muddled by an ensemble of too many strings, which blunted the impact of its intended vocal delivery. Where Shaw is concerned, I have lost track of the number of times I have listened to “Entr’acte;” and it still leaves me feeling it is little more than self-indulgent amateurism. Unfortunately, the Haydn symphony did not fare much better, coming across as lame, particularly when it was followed by such a stimulating account of the Mozart concerto.

This was one of those evenings when the intermission left me wondering if I should remain for the rest of the evening, but I am definitely glad that I did so!