The Orion String Quartet added a fifth star to its musical constellation for the opening concert of the 2009-10 Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society concert series.
Double bassist Timothy Cobb joined the venerable quartet for a polished chamber concert (albeit conservatively presented) at Oakland's Carnegie Music Hall on Monday night.
In both Eugene Phillips' "A Tribute for Two" and Antonin Dvorak's G-major String Quintet, Cobb's role was not to merely provide an extension to the quartet's bass register but also to be a dynamic contributor to the ensemble's musical statements. As a quartet, the Orion also gave a sublime reading of Mozart's first "Haydn Quartet."
Phillips' elegiac composition originally was conceived for string orchestra, yet the Orion's presentation of it as a full-fledged chamber piece worked extremely well. Written as a memorial for Irving Faigen and Robert Holloway, "Tribute" juxtaposed highly chromatic harmonies and melodies, bottom-heavy tone clusters and lyric references to functional tonality. The Orion "quintet" performed Phillips' composition with a clear tone and excellent intonation.
The second movement especially showed the balance in juxtaposition that Phillips brought to his work. Timothy Eddy's lyric cello solo was accompanied by Todd and Daniel Phillips' ethereal violin harmonics. Framing this shimmering moment was a descending line of chromaticism, voiced in the full quintet that built into a cutting tone cluster.
Eddy's solo gave way to a brief chorale-like treatment for the full ensemble, as an answer to the previous dissonant cluster. Before the movement faded away on a simple and poignant minor triad, the ethereal violin harmonics were brought back as an earthy and mourning double bass pedal note.
The rustic cheerfulness in the first movement of Dvorak's quintet set up the work's second movement. Structurally very simple, this gem of a movement required the musicians to embrace their individual roles to effectively portray the musical scene Dvorak composed. Eddy's unwavering cello drone and Cobb's rhythmic pizzicato punctuations provided the supporting frame for violinist Daniel Phillips' understated tune. Todd Phillips and violist Steven Tenenbom gave the harmonic oscillations that contextualized the movement's narrative.
As a quartet, the Orion ensemble performed Mozart's G-Major quartet with polished reserve. It found a dynamic balance between Todd Phillips' leading violin presence and the just-loud-enough volume of Eddy's cello. Todd and Daniel matched their violin timbers seamlessly, and Tenenbom's viola kept the music's inner harmonic threads tightly knit.
First Published: October 14, 2009, 4:00 a.m.
