By Daniel Buckwalter
Everyone should have a prime professional ambition, no matter how daunting or far-fetched.
Take Michael Anderson, for instance. Since 2021, the clarinetist and artistic director of microphilharmonic has made it his mission to arrange all nine of Ludwig van Beethoven’s symphonies for his chamber ensemble of 12 musicians.
This would seem to be a rabbit hole, or the very definition of “labor of love.” But he’s kept at it, and now he’s almost done.
On May 9 and 10, microphilharmonic checked off two more of these masterpieces in its season finale with the thoroughly professional play of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 in F major and Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major, for appreciative audiences at The Shedd Institute for the Arts.
That’s eight down, one to go, and I’ll be curious to hear how Beethoven’s 9th Symphony plays out in Anderson’s mind. For this particular weekend, though, these two vibrant symphonies were well worth the vested interest of the audiences.
For me, Symphony No. 8 had everything a classical music fan could ask, starting with the robust first movement that featured the excellent work of violinists Stephen Redfield and Alice Blankenship.
From there came the sweet and melodic second and third movements and the soft solo phrases of Anderson on clarinet as well as Stephen Dunn on trumpet and Jonathan Kuhns-Obana on French horn, all of it underpinned by the masterful work of Louis Lowenstein on cello.
For Symphony No. 4, I was struck by the foreboding first movement as well as the play of flutist Kristen Halay and oboist Martin Hébert in the second movement.
Sunday was Mother’s Day, and Sunday’s performance was a nice addition to the day. We can all look forward next season and beyond to hear more arrangements from Michael Anderson.
