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Sunday, October 23, 2005
Atlanta Baroque Orchestra visit Zimmermann’s Cafe
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CONCERT REVIEW
Atlanta Baroque Orchestra. Sunday at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, in Buckhead. www.atlantabaroque.org.
Concerts by the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra see-saw between the brilliant and the lackluster, the energized and the uninspired.
When conductor John Hsu is in charge, ABO events are unmissable — period-instrument performances of 18th century repertoire, delivered with the vitality and punch of the best of contemporary music.
But Hsu is currently just the group’s “artistic advisor,” and his international schedule brings him to Atlanta just a few times a year. The ABO, meanwhile, continues to give concerts in his absence. After several seasons without a boss, the orchestra hopes to snag Hsu as a fully-active music director. Together they’d become a national-tier early-music powerhouse.
If they can get him. Sunday afternoon at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, for the second ABO concert of the season, the core group of eight musicians were on their own. Here the players’ musical charm and virtuosity — and their lack of leadership — was evident.
They called the show “Bach at Zimmermann’s Café” and included music the German composer performed at the popular Leipzig coffee house, mostly from the 1730s.
Despite the theme, the works seemed to fit together better on paper than in performance. In Pachelbel’s Partie in G — six brief, spirited dances — the individual players delivered their parts, yet the music sounded timid, and the suite lacked character.
Next, after they inexplicably scrapped a Bach prelude and fugue (presumably for solo harpsichord) they played Bach’s Overture in B minor, which is really a bouncy overture plus six dance numbers, several of which are iconic pop hits. Finally, everything clicked in the Polonaise movement. What was blurry — counterpoint, harmonic alignments, rhythm — became clear.
With the ABO, rhythm is an key issue. None of these musicians seem to radiate a strong, unerring, unimpeachable sense of rhythm. (Rhythm that’s rock-steady enough to be supple — that is one of John Hsu’s great strengths, which perhaps accounts for why they sound their best under his command.)
A sloppy reading of Pachelbel’s ubiquitous Canon and Gigue in D led to Buxtehude’s cantata “Herr, wenn ich nur dich habe” (“Lord, If I have thee alone”) with soprano Allison Brown. Her voice is feather-light, she had trouble enunciating the German consonants, but she sailed beautifully through the “Amen.”
The concert closed with Bach’s splendid A minor Concerto for flute, violin and harpsichord, with able soloists Catherine Bull, Gesa Kordes and Daniel Pyle, respectively.
The ABO’s next two shows, in January and March, feature Hsu conducting. Mark your calendars now.
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UNSCRIPTED: Suzis and sequins
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As promised, I’ve rushed out of Sunday night’s Suzi Bass Awards to let you know who took home the city’s first professional theater honors, named for a beloved, one-of-a-kind actress who died of cancer in 2002 after capturing the hearts of seemingly everyone in the Atlanta theater community.
“The Color Purple,” which originated at the Alliance Theatre last fall and opens Dec. 1 on Broadway, won the Suzi for outstanding production of the 2004-2005 season. Alliance artistic director Susan V. Booth accepted the prize by saying that more than anything, she is proud to live in a community that recognizes the value of letting the people who work in theater reward their peers.
Marietta’s Theatre in the Square picked up the remaining three artistic awards, announced at the 14th Street Playhouse. Bernardine Mitchell won outstanding actress for portraying the lead in the gospel biography “Mahalia,” and Carol Mitchell-Leon won the directing trophy for the same show.
Mitchell-Leon accepted on behalf of Mitchell, who was said to be in Canada appearing in a production of “Crowns.” “I know how much she loved Suzi and that this would be a real honor for her,” said the director, who then made a return trip to the stage to get her own brushed-silver, star-tipped trophy.
Mitchell-Leon likened Bass to a colorful sunrise that “makes you feel good no matter how bad the night has been.”
Picking up his outstanding actor Suzi for his role in Theatre in the Square’s “The Diviners,” Chris Ekholm made a pitch for Actor’s Equity and the theaters who employ Equity members. “Without that, we can’t make a living doing this,” he said.
Actress Karen Howell, who had been asked to give a talk about “what Suzi would think,” was stunned to win the 2005 Spirit of Suzi Bass Award. A tireless community worker and indefatigable trouper, Howell said her work was “minimal” compared to many of her colleagues, who she believes are just as deserving.
After her remarks, she had to be pulled back onstage to give the tribute she’d originally planned. She said she envisioned Bass reared back in a chair, wearing a purple boa and saying, “I’m so glad I didn’t have to pick the winners.”
Gene-Gabriel Moore, who founded the awards program, handed out a special Spirit of Suzi Bass to the late actress’ husband, Bob Bass. Sequinned outfits were de rigeur for the ladies, and a lot of the guys wore tuxedoes. Moore, who hopes that black tie will become a part of the Suzi tradition, sported a tux and was sans peepers. Booth, who wore a fashionable white coat and slacks, joked about appearing on stage without sequins.
Though the ceremony was short but sweet, organizers promise 20 Suzis for the 2005-2006 season. Awards will be given for both plays and musicals, and in design and choreography categories as well as acting and directing. Master of ceremonies Rob Cleveland said this was the last Suzi ceremony that would end before midnight.
The evening began with singer Libby Whittemore belting out “Some People” from “Gypsy,” and Cleveland kept the audience chuckling with his standup comedy.
Remarking how peculiar it is to make a living pretending to be someone else, he said: “We actors get paid for having a psychological disorder that makes us unemployable anywhere else.”
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