The Muncie Symphony Orchestra performed a stellar concert of baroque music Sunday afternoon in the beautiful, ornate Edmund Burke Ball Auditorium of downtown's Community Civic Center.
In terms of numbers, the performance featured a slightly pared-down MSO ensemble. The baroque repertoire was specifically tailored to the Ball Auditorium because of the smaller venue.
Unlike the stage found in Emens Auditorium, the area in the Ball facility was not equipped to accommodate an entire orchestra. The stage in Ball Auditorium is also more shallow than that in Emens, which made those attending Sunday's performance physically closer to the musicians. Much to the crowd's delight, the unique situation provided a more intimate listening experience for the audience.
C.P.E. Bach's "Symphony in D Major, H. 663" was the first selection of the concert. Violins and violas swept through fast arpeggios while Erwin Mueller's timpani resonated throughout the ensemble.
Seated in front of the musicians, Conductor Leonard Atherton held a harmonica in his left hand which he played often while conducting the group with his right hand.
Although the instrument was all but inaudible while the entire ensemble performed, Atherton's harmonica did lend support and depth to several of the piece's string passages.
The next selection was J.S. Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto No. 3," which featured a recognizable opening theme. A smaller ensemble, which consisted of three violins, three violas, three cellos and a single-string bass, was present onstage for the piece as well.
"The Brandenburg Concerto," which followed the J.S. Bach selection, was handled well despite serious intonation concerns among the cellos and bass in their portion of a call-and-response passage. A fast, technical violin solo featured in the concerto was performed brilliantly.
After a brief intermission, MSO returned to the stage for Handel's mini-opera, "Cantata: Apollo and Dafne." The piece featured vocalists Craig Priebe and Jennifer Cooper in the title roles of Apollo and Dafne. The orchestra took on the role of accompaniment for much of the piece, although Ferald Capps' oboe was a prominent feature in the selection.
"Cantata" follows Apollo's failed attempt at romancing the mortal Dafne. Priebe and Cooper played their characters' parts with great animation and verve, and the duo's harmonious vocals were top-notch.
The performance was good enough that, for many of the members in the audience, it might have been forgotten that they were not seated in New York's Metropolitan Opera House.
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