Muffitt's Triple

Timothy Muffitt began the Lansing Symphony’s season opening concert Saturday night with an old chestnut, Overture to Donna Diana by Reznicek. This used to be standard concert fare but is now rarely heard. The overture was a joy. It was spirited and Muffitt’s very fast tempo left the audience (and orchestra, I suspect) breathless. It was a bit ragged at times, but that didn’t diminish the fun the piece communicated. What a rousing way to begin the season!
The excitement for the evening, however, was the homecoming of Lansing wunderkind cellist, Tanya Ell. A graduate of Okemos High School, the 32-year-old Ell now plays with the Cleveland Orchestra. She formed a piano trio with two musical friends (Diana Cohen, violin and Renana Gutman, piano) and the Trio Terzetto made a CD and has many gigs. They were the featured artists in the LSO performing of the Beethoven Triple Concerto in C Major.
Ell was impressive when she displayed her wonderful and intense cello tone. Each individual member of the trio had a time to show “her stuff” during the Beethoven and the entire ensemble was tight and expressive. Cohen’s violin playing was vibrant and Gutman’s piano skills were strong and musical. She acted as the catalyst between the orchestra and the soloists.
The piece itself, however, was unimpressive. Maybe three instruments are too clumsy to be the soloists for a concerto, or maybe Beethoven had gone back to an earlier model of the orchestra simply playing oom-pa-pas for the accompaniment. Also, Wharton Center (at least from the balcony) was not kind in showing the clarity of the ensemble. Toward the end of the piece, I wanted to just hear the fine Trio Terzetto without the orchestra.
The program ended with the sublime Brahms Symphony No 2, and in comparison to the Beethoven it was even more emotional and expressive than I remember. In addition to the long melodic lines, Muffitt also strengthened the inner voices which added texture to the work.
The low strings were warm and dark in those unforgettable Brahms’ chords. Muffitt had hornist Janine Gabory take a special bow at the end, but I feel flutist Richard Sherman and oboist Jan Eberle should have stood also.
The overall sound of the LSO was confident and balanced and Muffitt led them through a highly nuanced reading of the Brahms. Everything pointed to another great Lansing Symphony season.