Making a first impression with such iconic music and with not one concerto but four is a daunting assignment, and this performance took a while to settle in. “Spring’’ started up rather tamely, with Nosky almost drowned out in the slow movement by David Miller’s interjections on viola, intended by Vivaldi to represent a barking dog. But Nosky’s playing grew more bold and imaginative starting with “Summer,’’ which she arrived at via one of the three appealing cadenzas she fashioned to bridge the seasons. The orchestra too came alive.
Vivaldi’s music is, of course, an extremely literal depiction of the various seasonal narratives, and Nosky played up these pictorial qualities, with rustic bent pitches in “Summer’’ and woozy drunken slides for the peasants’ celebration in “Autumn,’’ even a wobbly rhythmic stagger or two. The orchestra came up with a nice icy sul ponticello sound for moments of “Winter,’’ with Nosky freely ornamenting that slow movement. Her performance overall was most compelling in the moments when she turned on the heat and played with a virtuosic abandon.
I wish I had more positive things to say about the portion of the program that preceded the Vivaldi. The H&H string section appears to be in transition, with longtime veterans playing alongside relatively new faces. In overtures by Handel, a symphony (Op. 6, No. 6) by J.C. Bach, and two works by Corelli, the group under Harry Christophers’ direction was still in search of cogent, fully integrated approaches to sound, style, and phrasing. This group should be capable of more.
