South Florida Classical Review

Oboist Titus Underwood was a guest artist in the New World Symphony’s first chamber concert of the season Sunday in Miami Beach.

An eclectic menu of works spanning from the 18^th to 21^st centuries made for a winning opener of the New World Symphony’s chamber music series Sunday afternoon at New World Center. 

Titus Underwood, principal oboe of the Nashville Symphony and a faculty member at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, joined the academy’s fellows for three of the five works on the program. New World alum Julia Yang returned as the cello protagonist of a striking score by the late composer-pedagogue Lee Hyla.

Luigi Boccherini was a skilled craftsman who turned out many compositions replete with Rococo charms yet missing that extra spark of inspiration that spells greatness. His Oboe Quintet in D minor, Op. 55, no, 6 contains some attractive melodic writing and the opportunity for the oboist to demonstrate his technical aplomb. Underwood proved agile with a plangent tone, and he brought some needed urgency to the formulaic two movement opus. Violinists Hannah Corbett and Floriane Naboulet, violist Seth van Embden and cellist Jordan Gunn formed a well-honed supporting ensemble.

Hyla (1952-2014), a teacher at the New England Conservatory, fused pop culture influences, minimalism, neo-classicism and avant-garde techniques in his diverse output. The Dream of Innocent III for amplified cello, piano and percussion is typical of his imaginative approach to instrumental writing. Inspired by a fresco by the Italian artist Giotto de Bondone, the title refers to medieval era Pope Innocent III, known for piety and political chicanery. 

Cellist Julia Yang performed Lee Hyla’s The Dream of Innocent III Sunday at New World Center.

At 16 minutes, Hyla’s piece was the longest on the program but proved utterly compelling. Even when Hyla’s musical discourse threatened to run off the rails, it gripped the listener’s attention, as surging instrumental lines alternated with bursts of astringency. Yang conquered the work’s minefields of extended twists and turns, producing a dark, voluminous tone and flashy virtuosic riffs in equal measure. The amplification of her instrument was tastefully discreet. Shih-Man Weng was the solid pianist and Jennifer Marasti the deft and busy percussionist.

Underwood led a seven-player wind contingent in Extra Fancy, a 2015 piece by the Vietnamese composer Viet Cuong. Unabashedly whimsical in the vein of Ibert’s Divertissement, squeaks and squawks at a bubbly pace yield to a sleekly pensive melody from the bassoons in this brief crowd pleaser.  

Haydn’s Divertimento No. 1 in B-flat Major is best known for its second movement, the “St. Anthony Chorale” which Brahms utilized as the basis of his Variations on a Theme of Haydn. Underwood and  Sooyoung Kim (oboe), Mathew Matheny and Nina Laube (bassoons) and Sylvia Denecke and Abigail Black (horns) played the chorale in straightforward fashion but the performance really came alive in the rustic Minuet and sparkling Rondo: Allegretto. The two horns were especially fine, their intonation and precision firm even in the instruments’ highest flights.

Only two movements survive of the Sextet for Strings in D minor by Alexander Borodin and they were not published until the mid 20^th century. A chemist by profession, Borodin was one of Russia’s Mighty Five, a group of composers dedicated to the display of nationalistic musical trends in their works rather than European influences. 

The Sextet is prime Borodin with an Andante that pours forth a Russian romanza, one of the composer’s memorable, indelible melodic flights. Violinists Wing Yan Alison Kwok and Yuna Jo, violists Shek Wan Li and Srivishnu Ramankutty and cellists Samantha Powell and Alexander Wu drew out every ounce of brooding nostalgia and energetic ardor from this brief but beautiful creation.

The New World Symphony presents an operatic double-bill of Viktor Ullmann’s The Kaiser of Atlantis and Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins  7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at New World Center in Miami Beach. nws.edu

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