Sunday’s concerts began with Hans Abrahamsen’s icy “Schnee,” a series of short musical poems about winter and a bit of cooling for the warmest day of the Ojai Music Festival. Brittle and spare, befitting the icy subject, with hints of the more comforting aspects of winter like the softness of new fallen snow and even a sleigh ride. After a short break, it was off to Patricia Kopatchinskaja’s homeland for some spirited Moldovan folk music performed by PatKop and her parents, cimbalomist Viktor and violinist Emilia, both accomplished and noted artists in Eastern Europe. Three Romanian compositions filled the middle of this folk-fest, with Ligeti’s “Hungarian Rock” adding some humor to the proceedings as Anthony Romaniuk played the cimbalom part on harpsichord in this lovingly parodic mash-up of Romanian folk and rock and roll in the form of a baroque chaconne. As evening fell, the ultimate concert of the festival wound through pieces by Bartok, Stravisnky and Guillaume de Machaut, ending with Gyorgy Ligeti’s “Violin Concerto,” a bookend to the festival as a kind of counterpoint to the deconstructive push toward the future in Beethoven’s concerto from Thursday evening’s concert. Ligeti’s 1990 work circles through folk traditions, African music, fractal geometry and more, looking back and forward to make something new. The 61st OMF drew to a rousing close with an improvised encore that summed up this whole PatKop whirlwind with a mixture of skill, imagination and a goodly dose of fun.
