Orchestra, Soloists Absolutely Sparkle

Spokane Symphony Friday, Feb. 12, Opera House

When they walked onto the Opera House stage Friday night, Elissa Lee Koljonen and Roberto Diaz looked like a handsome teenage couple on their way to the prom. But when they began playing the violin and viola in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, they no longer were ingenues. The couple displayed the kind of magic that only beautifully refined Mozart-playing can produce.

Despite appearances, neither Koljonen nor Diaz is a teenager. But they are not all that much older either. It’s every listener’s wish to hear performers of any age play with the musical maturity, unanimity and technical polish of this young husband-and-wife team. Their phrasing and tone were impeccably matched.

I was especially impressed with Diaz’s viola tone; his sound was so … well, violinistic. Unlike the gritty, gruff tone some violists produce, Diaz’s sound seemed a deeper extension of Koljonen’s violin. This made Mozart’s conversational interplay between the instruments an elegant delight, whether in amorous exchanges of the Andante or the banter of the final Presto.

Fabio Mechetti and the Spokane Symphony Orchestra accompanied with the collaborative grace we in Spokane have learned to take too much for granted. The audience rewarded the soloists and orchestra with a well-deserved standing ovation - a rare gesture for a work that has so little blatant virtuosity.

Berlioz’s “Symphonie Fantastique” has all the blatant virtuosity one could wish for. Berlioz knew the limits of every instrument. And the composer was determined to push every section of the orchestra as far beyond those limits as he could. “Symphonie Fantastique” calls for special effects from the rattling click of violin strings struck by the wood of the bow to the rumble of four kettledrums played simultaneously by four percussionists.

Mechetti refers to Berlioz’s 55-minute autobiographical series of five tone pictures as “an opera without singing or scenery.”

The conductor and his players produced a thrilling, dramatic performance filled with the kind of huge contrasts Berlioz loved to exploit.

Some of the most beautiful moments came in the third movement’s long-distance dialogue between English horn soloist Barbara Cantlon and principal oboist Keith Thomas playing off stage.

The roaring, rattling, cackling “Witches’ Sabbath” that concludes the work had an indecent vulgarity replete with squealing high clarinets and the ringing of 10-foot chimes.

Not surprisingly this time, Friday’s audience was on its feet again. Rightly so.