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Reviews
The Boston Globe
Ellen Pfeifer
It isn't easy to assess the achievement and legacy
of Gisèle Ben-Dor's tenure with the Pro Arte Chamber
Orchestra because the relationship between orchestra
and conductor is so atypical.
Since Pro Arte is a cooperative, the artistic authority
of the principal conductor (the title "music director"
was eliminated several years ago) is extremely circumscribed.
Unlike a traditional music director, Ben-Dor shared
responsibility for repertory, soloists, and personnel,
and in fact served at the pleasure of the self-governing
orchestra. Therefore, one cannot attribute to her the
overall level of playing, the quality or interest of
the music performed, or the distinction of soloists
and guest conductors. From an outsider's perspective,
one could only comment on individual programs Ben-Dor
conducted. However, on the occasion of Ben-Dor's final
concert as principal conductor with Pro Arte, concertmaster
Kristina Nilsson praised Ben-Dor's nine-year regime.
"She was a shining star in our midst," she
said. "We were the beneficiaries of her terrific
energy and her unique insights into music she loves."
Nilsson acknowledged that Ben-Dor was often frustrated
by the cooperative orchestra's democratic form of government
and attributed Ben-Dor's lack of involvement in Boston
musical life to that frustration. Still, "she brought
deep knowledge and a profound love of music and sheer
joy to rehearsals and performances." Underscoring
this assessment, the orchestra named Ben-Dor "Conductor
Emerita."
At yesterday's concert, Ben-Dor performed an odd, quirky
program that exemplified those qualities of exoticism,
joy, and energy praised by her musician colleagues.
Framed by witty, live-wire performances of Rossini's
Overture to "il Signor Bruschino" and the
Beethoven First Symphony, the program featured works
influenced by folk traditions.
Silvestre Revueltas, a Mexican composer Ben-Dor has
championed in recent years, is known (if at all) for
his Ivesian iconoclasm, his political and musical Marxism.
But to judge by "Colorines," the composer's
deliberate primitivism emerged from the same primeval
forest as Stravinsky's "Ride of Spring," with
a brief detour to the urban jungle of Gershwin's "American
in Paris."
Almas Serkebayev, a native of the Kazakh region of
the former USSR, is a recent emigre to Randolph. His
"Shertpe Kuy," heard in its US premiere, evokes
the ancient nomadic ideal of perpetual travel and the
sound of the dombra, a traditional string instrument.
With its pulsating ostinati, it also evokes Khachaturian's
"Sabre Dance."
Heitor Villa-Lobos's Harmonica Concerto proved the
real curiosity on the program. The soloist, Robert Bonfiglio,
displayed lots of hair, chiseled features, deep knee
bends, and an astonishing, if improbable, virtuosity.
The cinematic music supplied him with lots of opportunities
for agility and color, and he made the harmonica sound
alternately like an antique reed instrument and an accordion.
Responding to the ovation that followed, Bonfiglio —
good son that he is — introduced his mother from
the stage. Then, supremely confident that we wanted
more, he played three bluesy encores.
See what the critics in the US are saying:
International Reviews:
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