Over and Out...
Me and my peeps wuz busy last night checking out the mountain of freshly-made Cajun seafood risotto, replete with salmon, crabmeat, and crawfish, at an Over-the-Rhine jazz speakeasy, which, sad to say, was tremendously underutilized -- so -- needless to say -- we missed the Stephen Isserlis thang at the CSO.
But our gal, M.E., can always be counted upon to be on the scene and issued this report!
Isserlis, Jarvi work magic with CSO
by Mary Ellyn Hutton
Cincinnati Post (3/19/05)
"Two guys at the top of their game took the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra into new territory Friday night at Music Hall.
"One of them was CSO music director, Paavo Jarvi, who led the CSO premiere of Danish composer Carl Nielsen's Symphony No. 3 ("Sinfonia espansiva").
"The other was guest artist Steven Isserlis, who made a case for Dvorak's little known Cello Concerto in A Major, Opus posthumous, also a CSO premiere.
"It was rewarding program in all respects, opening with the Prelude to Parsifal, one of Jarvi's rare essays into Wagner with the CSO.
"Bushy-haired and affable, Isserlis introduced the concerto, an early work left incomplete and unaccounted for until it turned up in Germany in the 1920s. The subsequent orchestration, by Gunter Raphael, involved considerable re-working and has been criticized as unauthentic.
" 'Because a puppy doesn't have a pedigree, you don't love it any less,' said Isserlis, who proceeded to give Raphael's version a splendid performance.
"The British-born cellist commands a heart-stopping, mahogany tone unmatched among today's cellists. And it isn't all his 1730 Feurmann Stradivarius. He simply knows how to make the instrument sing, as he did abundantly in the concerto's many lyrical moments. His technical facility is similarly incredible and he negotiates the thorniest passages with ease and focus.
"Isserlis worked closely with Jarvi and the CSO (though there were moments when the orchestra was too heavy). The interplay between soloist and woodwinds in the second movement was extraordinarily beautiful, and Jarvi made the most of the work's romantic highs. Isserlis scampered nimbly through the finale, earning a standing ovation. He encored with a hushed and profoundly moving "Song of the Birds," a Catalan folk song beloved of cello great Pablo Casals.
"Nielsen's Third Symphony isn't called "espansiva" for nothing (Allegro espansivo is also the first movement title). It's a big village dance of a work with vibrant rhythms, catchy themes -- many featuring snappy non-harmonic tones -- and a ravishingly beautiful second movement (Andante Pastorale, not Largo as the program incorrectly noted). Other symphonists have used voices in their works, but Nielsen makes his a part of the texture. Baritone Joshua Benjamin Jeremiah and soprano Caitlin Lynch (both of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music) sang wordlessly from the balcony for a gorgeous, other-worldly effect.
"The third movement (Molto Vivace) brimmed over with sass -- trills and staccato figures in the winds, razzes in horn and bassoon -- and the Finale (Allegro), with its expansive (yes) theme was big-boned and rousing.
" Parsifal opened with soft-brushed strings, exquisitely shaped. Jarvi built the work with great feeling and care and the brass chorales soared. More Wagner, please."
But our gal, M.E., can always be counted upon to be on the scene and issued this report!
Isserlis, Jarvi work magic with CSO
by Mary Ellyn Hutton
Cincinnati Post (3/19/05)
"Two guys at the top of their game took the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra into new territory Friday night at Music Hall.
"One of them was CSO music director, Paavo Jarvi, who led the CSO premiere of Danish composer Carl Nielsen's Symphony No. 3 ("Sinfonia espansiva").
"The other was guest artist Steven Isserlis, who made a case for Dvorak's little known Cello Concerto in A Major, Opus posthumous, also a CSO premiere.
"It was rewarding program in all respects, opening with the Prelude to Parsifal, one of Jarvi's rare essays into Wagner with the CSO.
"Bushy-haired and affable, Isserlis introduced the concerto, an early work left incomplete and unaccounted for until it turned up in Germany in the 1920s. The subsequent orchestration, by Gunter Raphael, involved considerable re-working and has been criticized as unauthentic.
" 'Because a puppy doesn't have a pedigree, you don't love it any less,' said Isserlis, who proceeded to give Raphael's version a splendid performance.
"The British-born cellist commands a heart-stopping, mahogany tone unmatched among today's cellists. And it isn't all his 1730 Feurmann Stradivarius. He simply knows how to make the instrument sing, as he did abundantly in the concerto's many lyrical moments. His technical facility is similarly incredible and he negotiates the thorniest passages with ease and focus.
"Isserlis worked closely with Jarvi and the CSO (though there were moments when the orchestra was too heavy). The interplay between soloist and woodwinds in the second movement was extraordinarily beautiful, and Jarvi made the most of the work's romantic highs. Isserlis scampered nimbly through the finale, earning a standing ovation. He encored with a hushed and profoundly moving "Song of the Birds," a Catalan folk song beloved of cello great Pablo Casals.
"Nielsen's Third Symphony isn't called "espansiva" for nothing (Allegro espansivo is also the first movement title). It's a big village dance of a work with vibrant rhythms, catchy themes -- many featuring snappy non-harmonic tones -- and a ravishingly beautiful second movement (Andante Pastorale, not Largo as the program incorrectly noted). Other symphonists have used voices in their works, but Nielsen makes his a part of the texture. Baritone Joshua Benjamin Jeremiah and soprano Caitlin Lynch (both of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music) sang wordlessly from the balcony for a gorgeous, other-worldly effect.
"The third movement (Molto Vivace) brimmed over with sass -- trills and staccato figures in the winds, razzes in horn and bassoon -- and the Finale (Allegro), with its expansive (yes) theme was big-boned and rousing.
" Parsifal opened with soft-brushed strings, exquisitely shaped. Jarvi built the work with great feeling and care and the brass chorales soared. More Wagner, please."
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