by Nicholas Jones
This weekend’s concerts by Apollo’s Fire were billed as “Fireside” concerts, implying intimacy, warmth, conversation, and refreshment. Understandably, there was no actual fire, at least at Sunday afternoon’s performance at Rocky River Presbyterian. But as “host” Kristin Linfante (violist and Acting General Manager) said in her welcome on Sunday, Apollo’s “Fire” ought to suffice.
In many ways, it did. The expert playing of the principal guest artist, lutenist Ronn McFarlane, was at times warm and gentle, at other times “hot”—dazzling enough to turn the snowy Ohio afternoon tropical. His solo, a short piece by one Giovanni Zamboni (not, as he said, the inventor of the ice-rink machine) glowed under his nimble fingers and brilliant colorations. [Read more…]