PERFORMING ARTS

Monday, May 26, 2008

Punch Brothers

The five men of Punch Brothers aren't actually brothers, but they sure were punchy on Friday night at the Birchmere: Banjo player Noam Pikelny gently chided a table for not finishing their fries, while mandolinist Chris Thile joked about celebrating the end of the show with a high-five.

That goofy presence didn't distract the string band from a precise, engaging performance that ranged from rowdy originals ("Punch Bowl") to covers of the Beatles ("Baby's in Black") and Norman Blake ("Green Light on the Southern"). While Thile may be the group's logical frontman as its singer, main songwriter and most well-known member (in addition to his solo career, he was a member of Nickel Creek), the other four musicians boast equally impressive résumés. Their experience and skill made the show a clear group effort: Gabe Witcher's melancholy fiddle anchored the transitions on the instrumental "Sometimes," while "Wayside" was propelled by Pikelny's sprightly banjo line.

The group's most adventurous number was a four-movement suite titled "The Blind Leaving the Blind." The Brothers chose to break the piece into two 20-minute chunks with a few shorter numbers played in between. What this approach lost in continuity it made up in momentum: Having shorter songs lead into the third and fourth movements (which far outshone the first two in both power and passion) gave their nearly two-hour set a boost of energy that packed a powerful . . . well, punch.

-- Catherine P. Lewis

The Cowsills

Sure, the crowd that turned out to hear the Cowsills perform at the Rams Head Tavern in Annapolis on Friday night was ready to reminisce. But some folks, eager to sing and shout the evening away, appeared to have been waiting for the family band to return to the state capital since its last visit in 1969. Backed by a three-piece rhythm section, Cowsill siblings Susan, Bob and Paul happily obliged, delivering a robustly harmonized mix of hits, misses and cover tunes that evoked both the birth of bubblegum pop and the vocal influences of the Mamas and the Papas and the Beatles.

Shortly after the show opened with "Monday, Monday," Susan joked that introductions were in order, since the siblings "look nothing like we used to." Yet the family vocal brand remains distinctive, despite the group's numerous hiatuses and personnel shifts. (Brothers Barry and Billy died a couple years ago, the former in a Hurricane Katrina-related drowning incident.) During Friday's opening set, Bob and Susan shared the guitar work and most of the lead vocals, while Paul, the most animated member of the trio, added to the harmonies that buoyed "The Rain, the Park and Other Things," "We Can Fly," "Indian Lake" and "Hair."

Amusing career anecdotes peppered the show, including a recollection of how the Cowsills begat TV's Partridge Family, complete with an affectionately goofy reprise of "I Think I Love You." Susan also got a chance to display her considerable gifts as a contemporary singer-songwriter in a nostalgia-free light.

-- Mike Joyce

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

When Jean-Yves Thibaudet bounced into the air a few inches off the piano bench during Friday night's performance of "Rhapsody in Blue" with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, it was no affectation or surprise: This was a night of power-Gershwin at Meyerhoff Hall.

Music director Marin Alsop led a concert whose hallmarks were forward-driving energy, transparent cleanliness and rhythmic precision -- a no-triplet-left-behind approach. As Thibaudet barreled through the solos of "Rhapsody" and the Piano Concerto in F, Alsop took up his vigor, though not all his sensitivity.

Thibaudet's performance was an idiosyncratic combination of broad, Rachmaninoff-ready virtuosic strokes and carefully colored character sketches. He exudes star quality -- and he can swing. From a bluesy amble to an all-out wail, he fulfilled the composer's intention of raising jazz to the grandeur of a symphony.

Fantastic sounds came from the BSO, whose musicians seem to have united under their still fairly new leader. Their ensemble was even tauter than usual, and solos were categorically musical and tonally rich. There was, however, an uncharacteristic rigidity to their playing, particularly in "Rhapsody."

Sandwiched between the Gershwin pieces was Ravel's "Le Tombeau de Couperin," a series of dances dedicated to the 18th-century French composer. A baroque architectural frame dipped in impressionist harmonies and timbres, the piece benefited greatly from the jewel tones of the BSO's wind section. It was a delight to hear Alsop bring out the many layers of counterpoint, showing its finely calibrated structure, and, this time, lingering on its playful and enchanting details as well.

-- Ronni Reich

Masterworks Festival Chorus and Orchestra

Eleven choirs from the East Coast to the Midwest assembled their forces in various combinations Saturday for a festival of classical and contemporary music at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.

The most impressive musicmaking came during the concert's first half, when six groups joined in a single chorus. Conductors Kevin McBeth and Duane Davis took turns leading the singers in Randall Thompson's "Testament of Freedom" and Gabriel Fauré's Requiem -- both eloquent staples of choral literature worldwide.

Of World War II vintage, Thompson's music pulses with military-march rhythms that enforce texts peppered with angry overtones and timely irony ("We Have Counted the Cost" and "We Fight Not for Glory"). Soprano Danielle Talamantes and bass Jeffrey Tarr provided powerful, vibrant solos. And the chorus sang with fitting nobility, pungent dynamic contrasts and clean-as-a-whistle diction. Organist John Cargile accompanied with telling effect.

An anthem by Joseph Martin was a weak follow-up to the Thompson. But, accompanied by orchestra and organ, Fauré's familiar Requiem was given a full measure of flowing lyricism voiced by the chorus in counterpoint that was smooth as glass.

After intermission, a sizable multi-choir ensemble and orchestra took the stage, the entire performance based on the music of conductor John Leavitt. His compositions were dressed-up, easily accessible versions of American spirituals cast in tired harmonic cliches -- unlike beautiful settings of this literature by prominent composer-arrangers such as Aaron Copland and Alice Parker. Leavitt also gave a Liberace-style grand finale as accompanist/conductor, offering painfully exhibitionist keyboard antics in his own arrangement of "River in Judea."

Judging audience reaction to the performance proved iffy, for only a few rows of the concert hall were occupied by non-participants.

-- Cecelia Porter