Music Review: Israel Chamber a refined ensemble

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Musical life in Pittsburgh is vibrant, even despite the occasional tale of financial woe. But there's one aspect of concert-going we lack, as do most midsize cites: visiting orchestras. In this instance it does us no shame to look with envy to the likes of New York or Chicago, which get a steady influx of outside ensembles. Pittsburgh is lucky to get one or two orchestras a year, usually chamber-sized.

Founded only in 1965, the Israel Chamber Orchestra is certainly not as well known as its bigger brother, the Israel Philharmonic. However, it displayed a refined musicianship. Tel Aviv-born conductor Nizan Leibovich has been slowly building a strong musical presence in Pittsburgh. He led the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble for a season, conducted Quantum Theatre's "Kafka's Chimp" and is the music director of the Pittsburgh Philharmonia, run by the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill. A composer as well, he got a piece in the Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival last June. Suffice it to say, he is a talented fellow.

That work was a cello concerto, so it's no wonder that the highlight of the evening was Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1. The incomparable Matt Haimovitz, also Tel Aviv-born and now living in Montreal, was the soloist. Prior to this the orchestra opened with a somewhat muted performance of Prokofiev's Symphony No. 1, "Classical." While it abounded with delicate playing, the reading lacked the heft even a chamber group should give of this work. The harmonic color simply did not project.

It was something of a pleasant surprise, then, when the Shostakovich, certainly calling for vigor and energy, received just that. Urged on by Leibovich, the orchestra filled the hall with decisive playing. The winds captured that plaintive timbre so crucial in Shostakovich.

Haimovitz lately has embarked on a fascinating genre-bucking, audience-expanding crusade that takes him to casual settings, such as Club Cafe a few weeks ago. I enjoyed that concert immensely, and it was fascinating to hear that approach bleed into his formal concerts. That, combined with his recent affinity for improvisational jams, resulted in exceptionally fluid phrasing in the Shostakovich. At times he brought out pathos, at times anxiety, at times whimsy. The titanic cadenza was a grand set piece unto its own in his hands.

After a short detour through Joseph Bardanashvili's "Elegy for Strings," a short, overly simplistic work from 1995 that came across as something of a poor man's Adagio for Strings, the orchestra launched into a robust Beethoven Symphony No. 8. Rather than bringing attention to himself, Leibovich's conducting displayed the sort of proper restraint that reveals a thoughtful approach to the music. While there was little improvisatory shifting of tempos or phrasing, Leibovich's concept for the work was substantive and musical.