The Berlin Philharmonic, one of the world's great orchestras, operates under an enlightened artistic philosophy. Its large roster and the redundancy of players in every section save one (tuba) allows for rotation among the players between pieces and performances. The free time in their schedules allows players to form ensembles among themselves to perform chamber music.

In Japan, the German model is everywhere evident. Two Japanese chamber orchestras appeared in concert in Tokyo recently. They were contrasted in aspects: one old, the other new; one numerous, the other lean; one conducted, the other semiconducted. They were similar in the most important way -- their common wish to make their own music.

Japan Chamber Orchestra

March 30 in Parthenon Tama Hall -- Serenade for Winds in D Minor, Op. 44 (Antonin Leopold Dvorak, 1841-1904), Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 4 in D Major, K. 218 "Military" (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756-91) featuring Tatsuya Yabe; Symphony No. 39 in E-flat Major, K. 543 (Mozart)

The flexibly sized Japan Chamber Orchestra was formed in 1992. The 33 musicians in this program were drawn from almost all of Tokyo's major professional orchestras.

The JCO originally organized itself with commendable intentions, but it appears to have come up hard against reality. Two concert programs in eight years attests to the immense difficulties attendant upon organizing and activating an orchestra of any kind. The brave banner (in English) "Our programs will feature 20th-century music, including newly written works" might better have been prudently omitted from the printed program, for that too appears to have been sacrificed to the pragmatic consideration of drawing an audience.

The JCO elected to perform without a conductor, entrusting the duties of ensemble coordination mainly to concertmaster Tatsuya Yabe. The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra has been operating in New York for years under a similar premise -- the players work out their joint interpretation in intensive rehearsals free of the tyranny of the baton.

Like the Orpheus, the ensemble work and the technical playing in general were on a very high plane. The sound was good. The playing was expressive. There are some very fine instrumentalists in this band.

Like the Orpheus, and for the same reasons, it was in the third and final level of art, the interpretative aspect, that the limitations of a conductorless performance manifested themselves. The tempos were correct and the approach was stylistically sound. What remained unattainable to these splendid, dedicated musicians was more ephemeral -- flexibility, spontaneity, intensity, humor and nobility.

Flexibility and spontaneity can certainly be guaranteed under a conductor, but the tradeoff for the musicians is a lack of ownership of the music. Moreover, it is simply not that easy to find a conductor who makes music on the same high level as the JCO, is compatible with the musicians, and is available.

Artistic excellence is a battle never won, but well worth the fight nevertheless. My heart went out to the 33 fine musicians on stage in Parthenon Tama Hall for their dedication in overcoming the countless obstacles they had to overcome to prepare and present this performance. Surely the Japan Chamber Orchestra won't have to wait another eight years for its third subscription concert!

New Vivaldi Ensemble

April 7, Masaaki Hayakawa conducting in Tokyo Bunka Kaikan -- Concerto Grosso in C Major, Op. 11/37 (Antonio Lucio Vivaldi, 1678-1741), Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra in E Minor, Op. 13/6, and Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra in C Major, Op. 13/17 (Vivaldi), featuring Kiyoshi Koyama; String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D.810 "Death and the Maiden" (Franz Peter Schubert, 1797-1828; arranged for string orchestra after the example of Gustav Mahler by Masaaki Hayakawa)

The 13-member New Vivaldi Ensemble was formed 21 years ago by conductor Masaaki Hayakawa and musicians who are now presumably members of the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony and other orchestras -- presumably, because the musicians' names and credits were omitted from the printed program.

During his formative years, Bach copied out several of Vivaldi's works in his study of techniques of contemporary composition. The older composer's models were the best of the Baroque Period to that time. The caustic charge has often been made that Vivaldi wrote the same concerto grosso 400 times. Performing two of his bassoon concertos one after the other was not well calculated.

If the music was forgettable, so was the performance, and for a number of reasons. The Baroque Period followed the intellectual enlightenment of the Renaissance, and preceded the concern for formal structures of the Classical Period. Many musicians miss this point: The Baroque was inherently a romantic period. Hayakawa did not seem to relate to the passionate style of the Baroque.

Kiyoshi Koyama had prepared himself assiduously, he performed entirely from memory, and he missed nary a note. I can well imagine that he must sound far more interesting and exciting playing bassoon solos in the orchestral repertory than he did transfixed in the middle of the stage in Bunka Kaikan.

I must confess, though, that it was not really the music of Vivaldi I had come to hear, despite the ensemble's name. I had looked forward to hearing Schubert's great "Death and the Maiden" quartet, so named because the slow movement is a theme and variations based on the composer's aria of that title.

Gustav Mahler had sketched out an incomplete design for a string orchestra version of the quartet, completed in recent years by an English composer. As the published material is only available on rental, Hayakawa enterprisingly set to work to make his own arrangement. The deep involvement in the process of analyzing and determining all details of the composition is the best kind of study a conductor can do, and it transformed Hayakawa.

Fully confident in his knowledge and understanding of the score, Hayakawa led the NVE musicians in a deeply impassioned reading of Schubert's stirring composition. The dramatic difference transformed the musicians as well. From the back of the hall the smile which radiated from contrabass Akira Imamura's beaming countenance was a sure signal that this was what music was all about.