Fifteen members of the Colorado Symphony took listeners on a fun, rewarding musical journey of discovery Saturday afternoon in the latest monthly installment of the Englewood Arts concert series.
It was a rare opportunity to hear two pieces that ideally complement each other: Louis Spohr’s Octet in E for Strings and Winds, Op. 32 (1815), and Antonín Dvorák’s Serenade in D minor for Winds, Cello and Double Bass, Op. 44 (1878).
Though both are unqualified masterworks and complete crowd- pleasers, neither is frequently performed because of the large, highly unusual instrumentations both require.
Amazingly, considering how masterfully constructed and appealing it is, the Octet is nearly unknown even to classical insiders. Principal French horn player Michael Thornton discovered the work last summer when he performed it during the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego.
Though largely forgotten now, Spohr was a much-heralded, innovative composer in his time, serving as a kind of bridge from Mozart (whose influence can be heard in this work) to younger composers, such as Richard Wagner.
In his good-natured Octet, Spohr brought together a combination of instruments that can be found nowhere else in classical music, carefully balancing and blending the strings and winds and giving the sound a slightly darker quality by including two violas in the mix.
Each movement is a treat in its way, including the jaunty first movement, with its highly democratic, call-and-respond exchange of melodies among all the players, and the amazing slow third movement, an inventive set of variations on a theme of Handel.
The work provided a welcome, up-close opportunity to hear some of the orchestra’s star musicians and a few of its unsung players, such as assistant principal French horn player Carolyn Kunicki. There was not a weak link among them.
Deserving special mention were concertmaster YuMi Hwang-Williams, who confidently handled the challenging violin part, and principal clarinetist Bil Jackson, who delivered his typically strong, expressive playing.
Equally well-performed was the folk-flavored, more orchestral Serenade, which was competently led by Thornton in his first outing as a conductor.
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
