In a space of exceptional acoustics that has echoed with innumerable musical performances over the years (including previous ones by the Apollo Ensemble), conductor-artistic director Elias Miller and his full complement of youthful players presented with élan and skill two towering examples of 19^th-century orchestral romanticism—Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B Minor , Op. 104 (premiered in 1896) and Schumann’s Symphony No. Four in D Minor, Op. 120, published in 1851 and premiered shortly thereafter.  A large and enthusiastic audience at First Church Cambridge heard the second, more usually played version Saturday in the Ensemble’s first concert of 2025

The musicians (including Concert Master Sarah McGuire in the violin obbligato of the second movement) were clearly up to the music’s challenges. The performance displayed to maximal effect Schumann’s musical complexity and striking unpredictability of form and brass-rich instrumentation.

The featured soloist in the concerto, Juilliard and NEC-trained cellist Leland Ko, made his instrument soar and sing eloquently in this standard of the cello repertoire.  The composer completed it toward the end of his American sojourn, which also produced the “New World” Symphony, which shares with the Concerto the tugging-at-the-heart warmth to be found in the Czech master’s late works especially.  The orchestra, in exemplary sync with its soloist, engaged responsively in dialogue, ranging from the boisterous to the lyrical, with what Dvořák had composed for an instrument that supposedly he did not favor—it was perhaps his encounter with the music of the American cellist and composer Victor Herbert that changed Dvořák’s mind about the cello’s possibilities. The extraordinary coda to the final movement— revised by the composer after his return to his homeland and turned into a tribute to a beloved sister-in-law who had recently died—always surprises, coming as it does so unexpectedly before what is clearly going to be the triumphant conclusion to the Concerto.  Ko, Miller, and the orchestra treated this time-out-of-time passage, from its wistful beginning to its thrilling crescendo, with all the musical expressivity one could possibly hope for— in fact, this reviewer doesn’t think he’s ever heard a better live or recorded performance of this coda, which, even among the many other glories of this autumnal concerto, is worth waiting for.  The audience’s collective rise at the conclusion testified to their thrills—and how right they were to acknowledge such an outstanding performance.

Elias Miller and his ensemble once again proved their value to the Boston musical scene, consistently professional and passionate—there’s nothing perfunctory about how they deliver the goods! For more information, including a listing of future concerts, click HERE. Video clips from past concerts are available on YouTube. 

Joseph Nagy is a Professor in the Department of Celtic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University, and an avid concertgoer.