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Apollo's Fire @ St. Paul's Episcopal, Cleveland Heights 4/17 Conducting from her tambourine... well, no, that's not strictly correct. But Jeannette Sorrell, music director of Apollo's Fire, Cleveland Baroque Orchestra, did indeed incorporate her tambourine into her conducting duties -- and of course, also a harpsichord in a different piece.

Ms. Sorrell is very attuned to weather conditions, as witness her ‘musical bonfire’ from November, 2005, which brought about temperatures (outdoors!) of 70°F. Quite possibly, we can also credit her for Saturday’s marvelous spring day, which nearly equalled that temperature. It did, after all, follow her program of Friday evening at St. Paul's Church in Cleveland Hts., that began the final subscription programs of the 2008-09 season. It was 68° Saturday. And this is April! In Cleveland!

But for those of us who enjoy a climate that displays all four seasons, how could we not enjoy a program that included Les Elémens (creation of the world), various weathers, storms at sea, North winds and earthquakes, followed by an ode to the beauty of the earth! The formal name for this program was Earth, Wind & Fire: Vivaldi & Rameau Do Battle with Nature. And indeed, they did!

David Greenberg, who is frequently principal second violin of Apollo’s Fire was the primary soloist of the evening, and even when he sort of clowns around, (he was the tipsy harvester, after all) astonishingly beautiful music emerges.

The program began with dimmed house lights, and ethereal voices escorted Ms. Sorrell to the podium. Kocher’s Hymn For the Beauty of the Earth was sung sweetly by members of Apollo’s Musettes and Apollo’s Singers. They closed the evening with a different version of La Beauté de la terre, this one arranged by R. Duchiffre, aka Rene Schiffer, principal cellist, who composes terrific Baroque music in his spare time.

Les elémens came from the French composer Jean-Fery Rebel, in a dramatic portrayal of the creation, or else it was one heck of a storm! Discord preceeded beauty and calm, which was followed by Fire in a most dramatic and realistic musical description. Mr. Schiffer instigated the appropriate sound effects for the informative explanation by Ms. Sorrell of what we’d just heard.

Ms. Sorrell and Mr. Greenberg between them devised the Concerto à tempi diversi or Concerto of Various Weathers, culled from the Four Seasons of Vivaldi. For this work, featuring crisp autumn, winter rain and violent summer storms, Ms. Sorrell did conduct from the harpsichord. Mr. Schiffer provided marvelous musical rain in the middle section, making it possible to envision oneself cooped up indoors watching the driving rain on the windowpane, and wishing it would end.

Vivaldi’s La Tempesta di Mare or Storm at Sea, was just that, musically speaking. The ups and downs of the waves were illustrated by numerous scales running up and down, proving their value to every musician even if they aren’t fun to practice.

Two works by Rameau took up most of the second half of the concert: Suite from Les Boréades (the North Winds) and Les Indes galantes. Various soloists sparkled in the first piece: the oboe of Washington McLean in the Gavotte, violins and cello in the Entrance of the Muse of Sacred Eloquence (!), and in the next, Flight of the Winds, timpani and piccolo (Kathie Stewart) created a fabulous storm!

Les Indes galantes is six movements of stylized Baroque presentations. There was trumpet (Barry Bauguess) and timpani (Matthew Bassett), Ms. Sorrell and the tambourine and a small bell at one point, plus the regular strings. This musical tour of exotic places and peoples included a fanfare, dance of the African slaves, followed by a French provincial dance, a most convincing earthquake, an erupting volcano, the Savage (North American variety) dance, and once back home again, a combined celebratory dance between the Europeans and the North Americans. It may have been exhausting, but it was wonderful!

The summer concert series this year is Come to the River -- an Early American Gathering, from June 11-21, in various bucolic locations. For tickets or information, call 320-0012 or visit the web-site: http://www.apollosfire.org. The 2009-10 season announcement will be on the web, soon, too. Sign up for the mailing list (if you wish) at the web-site.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATroadrunner.com
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