CONCERT REVIEW: Fans adore Chang, but Lutoslawski steals show
Cincinnati Post music critic Mary Ellyn Hutton offers a rave review of this week's CSO concert (April 23, 2005):
Those who left Music Hall at intermission at Friday night's Cincinnati Symphony concert missed the best thing on the program.
Nothing against violinist Sarah Chang, whose energetic performance of the Dvorak Violin Concerto prompted a lengthy standing ovation, but the real excitement emanated from music director Paavo Jarvi and the CSO in Witold Lutoslawski's 1954 Concerto for Orchestra.
Influenced by Bartok's well known Concerto for Orchestra, Lutoslawski's take on the genre is breathtaking - and too little heard, as is the work of the Polish master in general. Fueled by Jarvi, the CSO warmed to their task with stunning virtuosity, bringing page after page of colorful score into ear-dazzling relief.
Jarvi and the orchestra will record both concertos for Telarc later this month. The pairing of familiar and less familiar works follows several others by Jarvi and the CSO - Sibelius/Tubin, Stravinsky/Nielsen, Dvorak/Martinu - and like them, it should attract considerable attention, not solely for the repertoire, but for the high level of excellence the CSO has reached under Jarvi.
Now 24, Chang cut a compelling figure in the Dvorak. Always in motion, the former child prodigy bent and swayed with the music, tilting her Guarnerius violin high in the air and punctuating phrases with an occasional kick. She drew a big sound from the instrument, sometimes a bit strident for my taste, but she was able to moderate it beautifully in the Adagio, where she achieved a gentle, husky tone, and in the sunny, dance-like finale.
It was Lutoslawski, however, who stole the show. Jarvi prefaced his Concerto for Orchestra with his "Fanfare for Louisville," written for the 50th anniversary of our sister city's orchestra, where Lutoslawski was honored in 1985 with the University of Louisville's first Grawemeyer Award for Composition. It sounded like grapeshot at first, the brasses creating a clamor of notes, followed by trills in the winds and "stringer" chords melting into echoes.
The 30-minute Concerto highlighted the orchestra as few works can (or have in my memory of attending the CSO). Every section and many individual players had moments to shine. The opening Intrada introduced the work's folk-like theme, which rose up through the lower strings to fade out at the end after a gentle pealing of celeste.
The Capriccio skittered to life in muted strings, turning impish amid scalar runs and filigree passages in the winds. The movement engaged five percussionists, who drew it to a close with a soft rustle of drums.
The finale began deep in the double basses, who outlined a slow passacaglia theme. As it got passed through the orchestra, there were smudges of piano and flutter-tongued "raspberries" in the winds and brass, ending in a haze of string harmonics. A lively toccata bubbled up from the cellos, giving way momentarily to a lovely, lyrical chorale, which returned after further commotion, allowing Jarvi a big, bold finish.
Jarvi opened with a vibrant reading of Haydn's Symphony No. 97. He and the CSO were like one instrument, and he gave them a considerable vocabulary of "show me" gestures, from scooping notes off the floor to eloquent flicks of the wrists. The variations movement was carefully delineated and full of character, with a touch of romance and even grit at one point as the strings played close to the bridge. He had fun with the Menuetto, with its lilting trio section and timpani hammer blows, and the Presto finale was like 18-century swing.
Repeat is 8 p.m. tonight at Music Hall.
Those who left Music Hall at intermission at Friday night's Cincinnati Symphony concert missed the best thing on the program.
Nothing against violinist Sarah Chang, whose energetic performance of the Dvorak Violin Concerto prompted a lengthy standing ovation, but the real excitement emanated from music director Paavo Jarvi and the CSO in Witold Lutoslawski's 1954 Concerto for Orchestra.
Influenced by Bartok's well known Concerto for Orchestra, Lutoslawski's take on the genre is breathtaking - and too little heard, as is the work of the Polish master in general. Fueled by Jarvi, the CSO warmed to their task with stunning virtuosity, bringing page after page of colorful score into ear-dazzling relief.
Jarvi and the orchestra will record both concertos for Telarc later this month. The pairing of familiar and less familiar works follows several others by Jarvi and the CSO - Sibelius/Tubin, Stravinsky/Nielsen, Dvorak/Martinu - and like them, it should attract considerable attention, not solely for the repertoire, but for the high level of excellence the CSO has reached under Jarvi.
Now 24, Chang cut a compelling figure in the Dvorak. Always in motion, the former child prodigy bent and swayed with the music, tilting her Guarnerius violin high in the air and punctuating phrases with an occasional kick. She drew a big sound from the instrument, sometimes a bit strident for my taste, but she was able to moderate it beautifully in the Adagio, where she achieved a gentle, husky tone, and in the sunny, dance-like finale.
It was Lutoslawski, however, who stole the show. Jarvi prefaced his Concerto for Orchestra with his "Fanfare for Louisville," written for the 50th anniversary of our sister city's orchestra, where Lutoslawski was honored in 1985 with the University of Louisville's first Grawemeyer Award for Composition. It sounded like grapeshot at first, the brasses creating a clamor of notes, followed by trills in the winds and "stringer" chords melting into echoes.
The 30-minute Concerto highlighted the orchestra as few works can (or have in my memory of attending the CSO). Every section and many individual players had moments to shine. The opening Intrada introduced the work's folk-like theme, which rose up through the lower strings to fade out at the end after a gentle pealing of celeste.
The Capriccio skittered to life in muted strings, turning impish amid scalar runs and filigree passages in the winds. The movement engaged five percussionists, who drew it to a close with a soft rustle of drums.
The finale began deep in the double basses, who outlined a slow passacaglia theme. As it got passed through the orchestra, there were smudges of piano and flutter-tongued "raspberries" in the winds and brass, ending in a haze of string harmonics. A lively toccata bubbled up from the cellos, giving way momentarily to a lovely, lyrical chorale, which returned after further commotion, allowing Jarvi a big, bold finish.
Jarvi opened with a vibrant reading of Haydn's Symphony No. 97. He and the CSO were like one instrument, and he gave them a considerable vocabulary of "show me" gestures, from scooping notes off the floor to eloquent flicks of the wrists. The variations movement was carefully delineated and full of character, with a touch of romance and even grit at one point as the strings played close to the bridge. He had fun with the Menuetto, with its lilting trio section and timpani hammer blows, and the Presto finale was like 18-century swing.
Repeat is 8 p.m. tonight at Music Hall.
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