The Best Chamber Orchestra?

[Ralph]

The best chamber orchestra in the world
(Filed: 27/04/2006)

As the Chamber Orchestra of Europe gears up for its 25th-anniversary season, Geoffrey Norris asks six musicians what makes it special

The Chamber Orchestra of Europe is a byword for excellence, revered for its polish, flexibility and cohesion in a repertoire spanning the centuries from Bach to Bartók and beyond.

Chamber Orchestra of Europe
The gold standard: Chamber Orchestra of Europe

Celebrating its 25th anniversary this season, the COE was born from the vision of core players in the then European Community Youth Orchestra, who, more out of friendship than from any political idealism, foresaw the potential of combining pan-European talent on a professional basis.

The COE has a reputation for being the most expensive chamber orchestra in the world. With no permanent base, members have to travel from their home countries to wherever a project is taking place; fees, subsistence and hotel bills add a further burden.

The COE receives no public funding, either national of European, and finds itself competing for finance and attention with high-ranking local orchestras wherever it plays.

But it continues to thrive artistically through acclaimed concerts and award-winning recordings, having formed close partnerships with many leading conductors, including Claudio Abbado and, for 15 years, Nikolaus Harnoncourt. I asked six musicians who have worked with the COE about the reasons for its success, beginning with Douglas Boyd, who, as a young oboist, was one of the orchestra's founding members and will conduct its jubilee concert next month.

Douglas Boyd
"I was in the ECYO until I was too old to stay. A small group of us had this crazy idea of starting a chamber orchestra that had the same kind of philosophy and intensity. With Abbado, we put on a concert in London in 1981, did a European tour, and the whole thing took off. Abbado had a huge effect in bringing the whole orchestra together as a unit. The other major relationship was with Harnoncourt, who was so Messianic that he had an enormous influence on our style whoever we worked with."

Nikolaus Harnoncourt
"I see the COE as individual musicians, and this is a special quality. Every single personality has its value. This forms a different orchestra from the more anonymous great orchestras elsewhere. There is also a spirit of adventure. The first things we did [in the early 1990s] were the symphonies of Beethoven. It was the only orchestra of that quality that had never played his symphonies before. This was a great part of the quality of the performances, because the shock of those great works is much bigger when the musicians feel it for the first time. They bring something fresh."

András Schiff
"It is a unique ensemble. There is no routine. Most of the members play chamber music - in string quartets, wind quintets and different formations - when they are not in the orchestra, so there is a high level of listening to one another. They come from different countries and schools of playing, but they have their very own sound as an ensemble. It's also an incredibly intelligent orchestra. I have played concertos, directed from the keyboard, and now also conduct the symphonic repertoire. The rehearsals are a joy. You don't have to say things twice."

Sir Roger Norrington
"Fundamental characteristics? Extreme professionalism, great enthusiasm, tremendous ability. From my specialised point of view, I was very pleased because 10 years ago I got them to adopt the German seating [first violins/cellos/violas/second violins], which they hadn't done before and which they've done ever since. The significance is that that's what the composers wrote for. That's what matters to me. They also play very quickly and easily with 'pure' tone, as we call it in the 'historically aware' trade. If I didn't have the world's best chamber orchestra in the Camerata Salzburg, I'd say the COE was the best chamber orchestra in the world."

Mitsuko Uchida
"The COE's strength is the commitment of the players. When they get together, they play with enormous pleasure. The people running it absolutely want to make it work, but their problem at the moment is that they have no home. One has to hope that there would be a sponsor, a town, a somebody to set them up in a place. It needs more than cash. It needs some city to be committed to them. It's not as simple as all that, and the fact that they have survived for 25 years is something wonderful."

Pierre-Laurent Aimard
"In the history of the orchestra, I arrived in the latter part [performing Beethoven concertos under Harnoncourt and directing Mozart from the keyboard]. The COE was already established and incredibly unified. Don't forget that this is an orchestra that was not founded by an outsider - I mean a conductor - but by musicians themselves, who wanted to share in music-making, and we can understand that even after a quarter of a century there is a strong common wish to go on with the project. It's a pleasure to share music with them - an indestructible joy."

# The Chamber Orchestra of Europe's silver jubilee concert is at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London SE1, on May 16. Tickets: 0870 382 8000

[C.B.]

I dunno about that Ralph--there are two great chamber orchestras right in your hometown--The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and The Orchestra of St. Luke's--that I think are more exciting (and accessible) than the COE. For one thing, the oboe players in those groups--Randall Wolfgang and Stephen Taylor--have a much more enchanting sound than the COE's Douglas Boyd.

[Corlyss_D]

Yeah. "The best chamber orchestra in the world?" Hardly. The field is too crowded with outstanding ones for there to be a "best."

[hautbois]

Perhaps ONE of the best, and Douglas Boyd is a superb artist non the less, his Bach concertos on DG with the COE is breath taking.

[Corlyss_D]

Perhaps ONE of the best, and Douglas Boyd is a superb artist non the less, his Bach concertos on DG with the COE is breath taking.

Going immediately purchase same . . .

[Ralph]

I dunno about that Ralph--there are two great chamber orchestras right in your hometown--The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and The Orchestra of St. Luke's--that I think are more exciting (and accessible) than the COE. For one thing, the oboe players in those groups--Randall Wolfgang and Stephen Taylor--have a much more enchanting sound than the COE's Douglas Boyd.

*****

Orpheus is nowhere as visible and prominent here as it once was. I don't think they have a recording contract these days either.

The Orchestra of St. Luke's isn't really a chamber music outfit. They're sort of a hybrid, halfway between being a chamber ensemble and taking on major orchestral pieces.

[Corlyss_D]

For one thing, the oboe players in those groups--Randall Wolfgang and Stephen Taylor--have a much more enchanting sound than the COE's Douglas Boyd.

Now cut that out! I've exhausted my cd budget for the month . . .

[Jack Kelso]

The Heidelberg Chamber Orchestra makes recordings and goes on tours, but I don't have to chase after them since their home is less than 15 kilometers away from mine (in Schwetzingen).

At each of their concerts they include the Vivaldi "Season" for that date. Händel, Bach, Telemann, Albinoni, Corelli, etc. form the crux of their programs. They play with great verse and enthusiasm and tickets don't cost an arm and a leg.

The "conductor" is the harpsichordist.

Jack

[Ralph]

For one thing, the oboe players in those groups--Randall Wolfgang and Stephen Taylor--have a much more enchanting sound than the COE's Douglas Boyd.

Now cut that out! I've exhausted my cd budget for the month . . .

*****

Start taking paying guests at your ranch.

[anasazi]

I dunno about that Ralph--there are two great chamber orchestras right in your hometown--The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and The Orchestra of St. Luke's--that I think are more exciting (and accessible) than the COE. For one thing, the oboe players in those groups--Randall Wolfgang and Stephen Taylor--have a much more enchanting sound than the COE's Douglas Boyd.

*****

Orpheus is nowhere as visible and prominent here as it once was. I don't think they have a recording contract these days either.

The Orchestra of St. Luke's isn't really a chamber music outfit. They're sort of a hybrid, halfway between being a chamber ensemble and taking on major orchestral pieces.

It does appear they have nowhere to go with DG. Are there anymore of those Nonesuch Mozart concerto recordings with Richard Goode yet to be released?

In any case, Orpheus is the best chamber orchestra that I have heard.

Whether Handel, Mozart or Mendlessohn. I have sensed from some of their last releases on DG that they are not as popular. The releases were fewer and farther appart and the repertory was often a bit more gimicky than before. But I really treasure the CDs they released early, the Haydn symphonies, others. There were some large gaps in their CDs however, no Bach, no Holst. Still, they are extraordinary musicians who made many 'best of class' recordings.

[Ethan]

I can strongly recommend the Orchestra Of St. Luke’s recording of Mozart’s “Gran Partita,” which is both excellently played and recorded, AND dirt cheap.

[Lance]

Perhaps ONE of the best, and Douglas Boyd is a superb artist non the less, his Bach concertos on DG with the COE is breath taking.

Going immediately purchase same . . .

Lyss: I thought you were slowing down on your buying (like me?) No?

[Lance]

Anything with the Orpheus has impressed me enormously. I hope it is not true that they don't have a recording contract currently. For me, Orpheus and St. Lukes, as indicated elsewhere, are among the best to my ears. I'll have to spend a little time with some of the others.

[Corlyss_D]

Perhaps ONE of the best, and Douglas Boyd is a superb artist non the less, his Bach concertos on DG with the COE is breath taking.

Going immediately purchase same . . .

Lyss: I thought you were slowing down on your buying (like me?) No?

I slowed, not stopped.

[hautbois]

Should i worsen the current situation by suggesting two other beautiful versions of the same repertoire performed by both Han de Vries and Heinz Holliger?

[srappoport]

What makes one chamber orchestra so much better than another that you can say that it is the best without having heard most of the others?

BTW, the last two days I have heard the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia play a Mozart program (overture to Cosi fan tutti, piano concerto No. 25, and symphony No. 39). I was left wishing that I could go back tonight as well.

Its conductor, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, conducted a "conversation" with the audience after the Sunday performance. He showed himself to be knowledgeable, insightful, and funny. If he ever learned to compose (he already is a conductor, pianist, and professor), he could be another Bernstein (but without the peculiarities).

[Corlyss_D]

What makes one chamber orchestra so much better than another that you can say that it is the best without having heard most of the others?

The absence of rigorous logic on a bbs such as this?