Wednesday, December 21, 2005

In its second concert Sunday afternoon at Florida Atlantic University the fledgling chamber orchestra, made up largely of Florida Philharmonic veterans, took a decisive step forward. There was greater ensemble cohesion, more polish and added character to solo passages. Work remains to be done, not least with the horns, which had another less-than-stellar outing. But with another large and appreciative audience in attendance, the Symphonia appears to be on track.

The high caliber of the two guest artists, conductor Alastair Willis and pianist Mei-Ting Sun, contributed much to the afternoon's success. Winner of the 2005 Chopin Piano Competition and currently a student at Juilliard, the 21-year-old pianist more than lived up to his advance billing with an impressive performance of Beethoven's Emperor Concerto.

Sun has a commanding technique and, though not infallible on Sunday, his incisive articulation and youthful energy brought welcome freshness and vitality to this mighty warhorse. At times in the first movement, Sun's quicksilver agility seemed to take a lightweight view of the drama, perhaps in keeping with the small orchestral chamber forces. Also his extended pedaled hold of the Allegro's final chord proved decidedly bizarre.

Yet cadenzas were turned with a nicely shaded individuality, and Sun spun a tender, glowing solo line in the Adagio, with Willis drawing notably refined string playing. The young soloist was at his finest in the finale, dashing into the buoyant main theme with bracing spirit and rhythmic flair, with Willis and the orchestra providing equally swaggering support.

Inspired as the Beethoven was, Sun brought the house down with his offbeat encore of Art Tatum's Tiger Rag, thrown off at a whirlwind tempo, with torrential cascades of notes worthy of Tatum himself.

The Symphonia strings were in the spotlight for Aaron Jay Kernis' Musica Celestis. Like Barber's Adagio for Strings, the music is an expansion of the slow movement from a string quartet, and plumbs a similar meditative inward expression, though one less elegiac than Barber.

Willis displayed great finesse in sculpting this difficult score, drawing extremely hushed playing and bringing out the rapt, unearthly beauty of the music. Led by concertmaster Huifang Chen, the Symphonia strings acquitted themselves well in the demanding exposed writing, bringing out the crystalline radiance even with the violins ascending to stratospheric heights.

If Kernis' celestial music hit the right seasonal note of ecumenical spirituality, the suite from Stravinsky's ballet Pulcinella served up an aptly festive closer. Willis showed himself an inspired Stravinskian, bringing out the clever ingenuity of the composer's melding of Classical form and manners with 20th century astringent wit.

The dances went with the requisite Terpsichorean elegance and buoyant lilt, yet Willis ensured that the wry asides and mordant humor came through delightfully. The Symphonia members served up much personality-plus playing, particularly flutist Christine Nield-Capote and oboist Erika Yamada, whose sinuous solos were delightful throughout.

Lawrence A. Johnson can be reached at ljohnson@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4708.