MUSIC REVIEW : Galway, Flutist at Ambassador

James Galway, showman, entertainer and also one of the world’s great flutists, was up to his old tricks at Ambassador Auditorium Sunday night.

Backed by the Italian string orchestra I Solisti Veneti and its distinguished founder-maestro Claudio Scimone, Galway serenaded and clowned with equal savvy and skill.

He even roped Scimone into the act, cooking up an elaborate pantomime around setting up a music stand: Scimone would repeatedly turn to his soloist, gaze into his eyes and the two would nearly maneuver themselves into a dance.

Thankfully, all the cute stuff didn’t get in the way of Mercadante’s marvelous Flute Concerto in E minor, taken quickly with some remarkable Galway precision tonguing and gentle high spirits in the Finale.

Earlier, Galway made easy work of Vivaldi’s Concerto, Opus 10, No. 3 (“Il Gardellino”), technically on the dot with an occasional patch of windy tone. He also came with his usual quota of entertaining encores.

Yet for awhile, some of us were wondering if this indeed was the real I Solisti Veneti, for the opening Vivaldi Concerto for Four Violins Opus 3, No. 10, was a slapdash mess, the soloists often at sea.

Some helter-skelter work by the violin section marred an otherwise lively, elegant account of Rossini’s String Sonata No. 4, and an unpretentious Concertino for Viola by Rolla was a vehicle for the wiry, metallic work of soloist Jodi Levitz.

The ensemble was tighter in the Galway segments and in the antiphonal Vivaldi Concerto for Violin and Two String Orchestras, RV 581, with soloist Bettina Mussumeli taking care of business competently. Still, the ensemble’s overall efforts did not live up to its reputation.