The sparkling harmonies and wind scoring and the tripping, skipping rhythmic joy of Martinu's "Sinfonietta La Jolla" bounced happily about the bright acoustics of St. Francis Borgia South Church on Saturday afternoon. The Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra played it, led by Richard Hynson...(the program) repeats at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Calvary Church, 935 W. Wisconsin Ave. in downtown Milwaukee.

Getting back to Martinu: Every time I hear his music, I wonder why I don't hear it more often. "La Jolla," like so much of his work, is charming, succinct and deeper than it seems to be at first glance.

The dance-like outer movements provide the charm in this case. The middle movement starts as a sweet lullaby. A meandering, minimal melody plays idly in single notes on the piano. The strings murmur a spare ostinato on the second and third beats of the bar. It's like a mom humming while rocking the cradle. But the little tune wells up to unexpected force, as happiness can well up in a parent's heart at the simple bliss of seeing a child off on a dreamy voyage.

This good little orchestra, composed mostly of moonlighting Milwaukee Symphony players, was confident and responsive. Hynson knew what he wanted and was clear about it. They served Martinu, Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn well, except for a few rocky moments.

They came in the trickier exchanges between the orchestra and cellist Scott Tisdel, soloist in Tchaikovsky's "Variations on a Rococo Theme." The rapid back and forth could have been crisper in the fifth and final variations, and Tisdel had trouble keeping the devilish last variation in tune. Otherwise, it went well. Tisdel was especially good with the ardent, Bach-like cadenza in the third variation.

As a welcome bonus, Tisdel played Jason Seed's melodious, meditative "Solo Cello in Low Light."

The fleet and bounding opening theme of Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4 ("Italian") took exhilarating flight. The high energy level held throughout this taut, charged performance and peaked in the wild tarantella at the end. 

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
January 2009-French Pastries

"Sonic plaisir, in shades of réverie and exstase, filled Calvary Church on Sunday afternoon, as Richard Hynson led the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra through late 19th- and early 20th-century French music.

He opened with Fauré's Pavane Opus 50, music with no place to go and no ax to grind. A lovely tune plays again and again, recast in different timbres and harmonies. Listening to it was like watching the light change through Calvary's glowing stained-glass windows.

Fauré's Ballade Opus 19 is more brilliant and exciting. The Ballade surges impressively through rising sequences, but never quite drives to catharsis. At least, that's how Hynson heard it. His reading was more about beauty and less about drama. At the crests of the waves, Hynson inevitably eschewed climactic outburst and drew back deftly to the prevailing atmosphere of suave equilibrium." /site/indexer/81/content.htm

Northeast Wisconsin Music Review

May 2007 - A Renaissance Event

"A renaissance indeed – and a welcome one. With this concert, and under a new Music-Director, the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra made its long-awaited return to the Milwaukee performing arts landscape and, in one stroke, made that vista seem infinitely wider and richer. Richard Hynson, Music Director of the excellent Bel Canto Chorus, proved himself every bit as adept in the orchestral repertory, conducting with vision and authority and giving the Milwaukee region’s public an experience with several composers not well known (although they certainly deserve to be)."  Read more...

Excerpts from reviews by music critics with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel include:

" ... repertoire one could easily miss in a lifetime of concert-going has a home in ... the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra."		" ... the MCO played responsively, sensitively and powerfully ... "
engaging	" The players had fun with the pieces, and so did the audience."	exceptional
" ... a 33-piece orchestra that wasn't holding back.... And that sound -- luscious and dark as a great cup of coffee in the first two movements, blunt and rustic in the boisterous dance finale -- fully expressed the nature of the music. ..."	energy	" ... a reading that was full of energy, whether at a simmer or a full boil, from start to finish. ... a gripping performance. ... "
colorful	"The Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra presented ... a colorful program of music that one doesn't often have a chance to hear."	luscious