St. Paul Chamber Orchestra: Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, 2/22/26

The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra hit the road to perform one of their Express Concerts at Saint Paul’s United Church of Christ. The alternate venue provided excellent acoustics and delighted the nearly full house. As one might expect, the Express Concert is a shorter program than the typical show and does not have an intermission. What makes it even more fun is that most of the musicians stand while they play. It was so entertaining to watch the musicians dance to the music even more than they usually do while sitting.

The night kicked off with two of Domenico Scarlatti’s Sinfonias – No. 3 and No 7. These bite-sized symphonies, each under five minutes long, featured beautiful harmonies. The orchestra was clearly having fun with the two pieces, as evidenced by the smile on one of the violin players’ faces and the jolly and skilled playing of the harpsichord by David Belkovski.

On a wind-chilled Sunday afternoon, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra took the stage of Ted Mann Concert Hall with Artistic Partner Richard Egarr to warm the audience with wonderful music.

First on the program was eight selections from Handel’s Water Music. The fun and lively pieces showed the impressive chops of the horns and trumpets, with possibly the most trills written for those instruments I’ve heard in a single work. The program notes stated Water Music was “…the first British orchestral work to use horns,” and Handel pushed the instrument to its limits in a good way. The oboe and bassoon parts were also featured. Some of the movements started with a whisper-quiet timpani roll that could be heard crisply, which highlighted the excellent acoustics of the venue.

With Egarr now seated at the harpsichord, after conducting behind it for the first piece, the orchestra was ready for Bach’s fourth orchestral suite. Following the vibrant and rousing first movement, the audience broke out into applause. The bassoon part was intricate and challenging, but Andrew Brady nailed it as he always does. The orchestra and oboes were in lock step with Brady’s tempo, which made for a fun display of teamwork on stage.

After intermission, the nearly full house was ready to see the Beethoven they came for. When the orchestra started playing Symphony No. 4, it was as if a burst of energy had been injected into the concert hall. Egarr, conducting without music, a baton, or a podium, was even livelier than during the first half. The orchestra also played with more fervor; several musicians practically leapt out of their seats while playing. The audience was having all of it, with several audience members bopping their heads along with the music; I got goosebumps from the energy in the room. Beethoven’s music has a unique way of building suspense, tension, and intrigue, and the orchestra did a great job of bringing those out of the music. The second movement featured Sang Yoon Kim’s dynamic range on the clarinet with beautiful playing. The fourth movement was lightning fast, and the string section was up for the challenge. At the conclusion of the piece, the audience gave a well-deserved standing ovation.

Handel, Bach, and Beethoven can make almost anyone happy, especially when played at the high-level of the SPCO, but what made the performance one to remember was Egarr’s connection to the music, the musicians, and the audience. Be sure to see him at his next engagement with SPCO!

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