Chamber Music Pleasurable In Subdued Setting

Symphony Chamber Soiree Sunday, Jan. 16, The Masonic Temple

Chamber music is not scarce in Spokane. From Allegro to Zephyr, local chamber music series present programs from baroque to modern, string quartet to brass ensemble. Sunday afternoon, a new series ensemble made its debut with a Chamber Soiree in the Commandery Room of the Masonic Temple.

The Spokane Symphony presented 13 of its players in three different ensembles playing a half dozen works. Fine players they are, too.

So what’s new? Not the faces on stage. All these players have been heard in other Spokane chamber music groups. Not the music. Most of the works performed are standard repertoire for piano trio, woodwind quintet or brass quintet.

What was out of the ordinary was the setting.

Years ago, the Spokane Symphony used to perform in the Masonic Temple Auditorium, but so far as I know, the Commandery Room has not been used for classical concerts. I found it gloomy. But the symphony capitalized on the subdued atmosphere by serving up its chamber music in a nightclub atmosphere with candle-lit tables on the main floor where couples (or couples of couples) could sit, eat hors d’oeuvres and sip wine. At lesser cost, others could occupy theater-type seats around the main floor or in the Commandery’s balcony where, I warn you, the seats are snug.

But the measure of any concert is the music. And the symphony musicians proved a pleasure to hear. Especially fine were the orchestra’s principal woodwind players - flutist Bruce Bodden, oboist Keith Thomas, clarinetist Eugene Mondie, hornist Margaret Wilds and bassoonist Lynne Feller-Marshall. The group performed Carl Nielsen’s Woodwind Quintet, taking full advantage of the virtuoso displays in the 11 variations that conclude the work and the serenity of its concluding chorale.

The most formidable work of the afternoon was Beethoven’s “Archduke” Trio performed by violinist Kelly Farris, cellist John Marshall and pianist Stefanie Kowalski. Their performance was spacious, calm and lovely. The small piano Kowalski played did not give much opportunity for the full-blooded assertiveness Beethoven often demands. But she always showed herself an expressive and responsive chamber music partner.

The symphony’s brass players - trumpets Larry Jess and Christopher Cook, horn Roger Logan, and trombones David Matern and Cameron Dunlop - were stylishly swinging in a suite of songs from Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess.” The group also performed an intriguing Symphony for Brass by the Russian composer Victor Ewald. This composer, though a musical amateur, virtually created the modern brass quintet and has a listenable style somewhere between Mendelssohn and Rachmaninoff with a bit of circus band and hints of Russian folk song thrown in.

This soiree was a trial run for a series scheduled to begin officially next season - a welcome addition to Spokane’s chamber music scene.