Chamber musicians truly an 'incredible band'

The final program of Spoleto USA's 2010 Chamber Music Series caused a veritable uproar in the re-invigorated Dock Street Theatre on Saturday afternoon. After every work, and often between movements, lusty applause, hollers and whistles echoed around the house.

Parading in and filling the front of the stage came eleven instrumentalists, a panoply of genuine stars.

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Director and docent Geoff Nuttall thanked this "incredible band of musicians that have worked so hard," the Spoleto staff, stagehands Walter and Chris, and audience members. Special props went to Spoleto Festival USA General Director Nigel Redden, and long-reigning impresario Charles Wadsworth, who in 1995 invited the St. Lawrence Quartet to Spoleto, for attending every Chamber concert this season.

With an enthusiastic "Let's dance!," Nuttall and the Terrific Ten launched into J.S. Bach's "Orchestral Suite #2 in B minor," and dance they did.

Danny Phillips, Scott St. John, Livia Sohn, Shannon Thomas and Nuttall were busy, busy on violin, Barry Shiffman and Lesley Robertson provided tonal interest on viola, while cellist Alisa Weilerstein, bassist Ed Allman and harpsichordist Pedja Muzijevic balanced the ensemble with continuo. Tara Helen O'Connor's magic flute took center stage as the series of everything from sarabandes to minuets composed in the French Baroque style evoked images of dancers dressed in 18th century finery.

Probably the most familiar of Brahms' "Hungarian Dances," numbers 6, 4, 3 and 5, here scored for four-hand piano, brought Inon Barnatan and Muzijevic to the stage to continue to wow us. With their exquisite skill, the level of accuracy in negotiating this collection of themes based on folk songs was astonishing. From frenzied to sweet, sprightly to bombastic, every measure's character was realized in this duo's astute interpretation.

While there is no such thing as a flawless live performance, unlike recordings where different takes can be cobbled together to achieve virtual perfection, the Chamber members who played Mendelssohn's "Octet in E Flat Major," Opus 20, came as close as you can get.

The St, Lawrence's Nuttall, St. John, Robertson and Chris Costanza joined forces with Phillips, Shiffman, Sohn and Weilerstein to imbue the 16-year-old composer's blockbuster work with a sense of musicality they all seem to feel from head to toe, concentrated in the heart.

No matter what, get yourself to the Dock at 11 a.m. or 1 p.m. Sunday, or both, depending on the intensity of your yearning for beauty.