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Sleep Inducing Solo

briskly, which came as
somewhat of a shock,
considering the prevailing
German preference for
lugubrious tempi in Bach.

The Concerto in G Minor
for two 'Cellos, Strings, and
Continuo by Antonio Vivaldi.
Erich Bunemann's and
Johannes Buhler's 'cello tone
was, paradoxically, rich
without being warm, but they
managed the difficult, highly
violinistic solo parts with ease
and assurance.

The second half of the
concert opened with the Violin
Concerto No. 2, Opus 50, by
Johann Nepomuk David. The
soloist was the composer's son,
Lukas, and his waste of a
superb technique and natural
command of his instrument on
a composition that was so
bland and uninspired that it
was downright sleep inducing
was a classic example of filial
devotion carried too far.

The evening came to an end
with a performance of Franz
Schubert's Overture in C Minor
for Strings. Evidently a
youthful composition, it has a
slow introduction reminiscent
of late Haydn and a subsequent
fast section that was pleasantly
somber in character, but the
Munich Chamber Orchestra's
reading was far from inspired,
and the concert concluded, as
it had begun, in a lukewarm
fashion.

I imagine that we need a less
than successful evening
occasionally to make us
appreciate the truly inspired
ones all the more, but I cannot
help but hope that, next year,
the Tuesday Evening Concert
Series will bring us a better
chamber orchestra—perhaps
Capella Coloniensis or the
Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.