By Tim Smith
The Baltimore Sun,  December 6, 2005

The Concert Artists of Baltimore engagingly explored works for string orchestra Saturday night at the Gordon Center for Performing Arts in Owings Mills.

Benjamin Britten's Simple Symphony, which is anything but, received a particularly vivid performance. The ensemble's artistic director, Edward Polochick, tapped into the brilliant counterpoint of the outer movements, the sheer fun of the all-pizzicato scherzo and the almost Mahler-like beauty of the sarabande. The players did tightly coordinated, expressive work.

Intonation and articulation slips, chiefly among the violins, caused some damage in Tchaikovsky's familiar Serenade for Strings and Anton Arensky's Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky. The latter, with an elegiac strain underlying surface diversions, found a passionate advocate in Polochick.

One wind instrument made it into the concert, making it possible to savor a remarkable novelty, the Concertino for Oboe and Strings by late Brazilian composer Brenno Blauth.

With lots of rhythmic vitality and a sensual quality that recalls the music of Villa Lobos, the score is instantly appealing. It also was quite a showcase for oboist Vladimir Lande's technical elan and dynamic phrasing. Polochick and the ensemble provided firm support.

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