CLASSICAL MUSIC

NSO at Carter Barron

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Trees rustling in the wind, grasshoppers chirping, the National Symphony Orchestra took its lush brand of music outdoors Saturday evening with a pleasant free concert at Rock Creek Park's Carter Barron Amphitheater. The music -- centered on Russian showpieces -- mirrored the surroundings in its vibrancy, tunefulness and natural flow.

Lt. Col. John Clanton, deputy commander of the U.S. Army Band and director of the Army Chorus, was the guest conductor. A promising musician with a confident beat and direct technique, Clanton showed affinity for the exuberant music that defines the Russian style. Shostakovich's "Festive" Overture, Op. 96, and Tchaikovsky's "Slavonic" March, Op. 31, were both heavy on the musical fireworks and booming climaxes. If the music's subtleties were less prominent, that could be attributed to the amplification, which mucks with balances and smudges edges.

Yet the tenderness and grace of the "Elegy" from Tchaikovsky's Serenade in C for Strings, Op. 48, spoke of a conductor of patience and intelligence.

It was clear from this heartfelt musicmaking that the NSO likes working with Clanton, and the ensemble let out some similarly nicely turned phrases and calibrated colors in the variations of Kabalevsky's "The Comedians," Op. 26. The concert closed with Rimsky-Korsakov's "Capriccio Espagnol," Op. 34, filled with polished solos and dramatic outbursts.

-- Daniel Ginsberg

Wolf Trap Opera: 'Le Comte Ory'

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Imagine Boccaccio channeled by Monty Python and you'll have some idea of the hilarity of Wolf Trap Opera Company's production of Rossini's "Le Comte Ory." At the Barns at Wolf Trap on Friday night, Rossini's second-to-last opera (dating to 1828, a year before "William Tell") zipped along with the clockwork precision of Gilbert and Sullivan -- on amphetamines.

What a wonderful upside-down world this is! The title character -- the bad guy -- is the tenor. Javier Abreu makes him both slinky and smarmy. Like Mozart's Don Giovanni, Ory is a famous libertine who successfully seduces no one (unless hickeys count). The good guy is Ory's page, Isolier. This is a trouser role, beautifully handled by mezzo-soprano Lauren McNeese, who is intense, effervescent and great at pratfalls.

In several disguises, Ory lusts after Comtesse Adele -- soprano Heidi Stober, who has a clear, high-flying voice and real talent for physical comedy.

Typical topsy-turvydom: Isolier, in Adele's robe, is embraced by Ory, disguised as a nun -- that is, a man dressed as a woman courts a female singer playing a man wearing women's clothes.

Rossini's bubbly score, conducted with verve by Robert Wood, is marvelous, from the stop-and-start opening to the a cappella chorus when Ory is unmasked. The splendid 20-member cast revels in outrageous overacting and onstage wardrobe malfunctions. The set's angles and proportions are all wrong -- which is exactly right. See "Le Comte Ory" Friday at 8 p.m. or next Sunday at 2 p.m. if you can. There's not a wrong note in the whole production.

-- Mark J. Estren

Grace Church Bach Festival

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Georgetown's 13th annual Grace Church Bach Festival concluded Friday with a thoughtfully programmed chamber concert honoring Bach and France's Bastille Day.

Flutist Shaughn Dowd demonstrated chameleon-like capabilities, blending so well with violinist Kim Miller in Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C, BWV 1066, that their sound could be described as a "flutolin" hybrid. With harpsichordist Lawrence Molinaro, violinists Regino Madrid and Erika Sato, violist Christopher Shieh, cellist Diana Fish and bassist Aaron Clay, the dances unfolded with understated simplicity. Jean-Marie Leclair's colorful Trio Sonata in D for Flute, Violin and Basso Continuo, Op. 13, No. 2, emphasizes ribbonlike melodies and frills. In the hands of Dowd, Miller, Molinaro and Fish, its wistful "Sarabanda" movement exuded restrained elegance, while the concluding Allegro bounded so energetically that members of the capacity audience nodded and tapped their toes in time.

Michel Corrette's Concerto in D Minor for Organ, Flute and Strings, Op. 26, No. 6, featured Molinaro on the church's A. David Moore instrument. Its delicate reed sound complemented Dowd's woodsy-timbred flute beautifully and offered a striking contrast to the bowed instruments' dark tones. The finale coursed brightly with upper strings accentuating the organ solos.

Careful not to overshadow Dowd in Bach's Concerto for Flute and Strings in E Minor, a reconstruction from BWV 1059 and 35, the conscientious strings allowed the flutist to elaborate freely during the mini-cadenzas. The second movement paused and sighed while the finale pulsated and echoed long into the balmy evening.

-- Grace Jean