Press

Boston Phoenix, October 8, 2004

Music Review
By Lloyd Schwartz

I’VE ADMIRED David Feltner as a violist, and I’ve heard good things about the group he founded, the Chamber Orchestra of Boston. I finally got to hear it, and the concert was a knockout. Feltner certainly couldn’t go wrong with his guest soloist, pianist Judith Gordon, who played Bach’s heavenly and joyous Concerto in F minor BWV 1056, with its ravishing hymn-like slow movement, in which the more pianistic filigree she added, the more she revealed the eloquence of the ongoing melodic line. Her exquisite quiet playing made me yearn for more Bach on the piano (rather than on the usual harpsichord). She then played the Boston premiere of Polish composer Henryk Górecki’s 1980 Concerto for Harpsichord or Piano. "Jerry Lee Lewis meets Shostakovich," Gordon has been quoted as saying. In the first movement, pounding chordal repetitions on the keyboard (minimalism meets boogie-woogie) are set against slow-moving strings that sound like huge organ tones. The juggernaut second movement is like a speeding train, with piano and orchestra alternating. It’s even more of a workout for the soloist. This is an exciting piece -- and short! And the audience was -- rightly -- wowed.

Feltner ended with the 24-year-old Benjamin Britten’s tribute to and portrait of his teacher: Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge, 10 colorful variations (March, Romance, Italian Aria, Viennese Waltz) that also served to remind us what we’d heard earlier in the evening (the Bourrée Classique recalling the Bach, the Moto Perpetuo bringing back Górecki’s relentless repetitions). The superb string orchestra (concertmaster Danielle Maddon has the same position with the Emmanuel Orchestra) was up to all the challenges, and Feltner led everything with rhythmic snap and a sense of the individuality and shapeliness of each piece. This outfit is a welcome addition to the list of Boston’s flourishing chamber orchestras.

Boston Globe, November 21, 2004

Filling the city with even more song (excerpt)
by Richard Dyer

Chamber Orchestra of Boston: This group of 16-20 professional players became "a going concern," says founder David Feltner, in 2001. It has now begun its third season in Jordan Hall.

Feltner has been a busy freelance violist in town for many years. "I know many of the players and thought it would be fun to put together my personal dream team of people who enjoy playing music with each other." The early concerts went so well that everyone decided to try to make the group on ongoing thing.

It focuses on unfamiliar repertory -- the first concert this season featured the local premiere of Gorecki's Piano Concerto with Judith Gordon as soloist. Feltner says one of the orchestra's reasons for existence is "balance." "There are a lot of wonderful early-music groups in town and wonderful new-music groups, too. I like to have a balance between old and new; I think it is a mistake to ghetto-ize new music."

The next Chamber Orchestra of Boston concert is Feb. 27 in Jordan Hall -- it brings the world premiere of a Double Concerto Grosso by Vuk Kulenovic with a Mozart Divertimento for two horns and strings. "We play things you won't hear anywhere else," Feltner says. "And I don't worry about whether there are too many other groups competing for attention. It's like asking the question, 'Can there really be too much beauty in the world?' "