Sibelius’ Violin Concerto, Joshua Bell and the New York Philharmonic in Review

New York Philharmonic
Alan Gilbert, conductor
Joshua Bell, violin
Avery Fisher Hall, New York, NY
October 6, 2010

Joshua Bell- Photo Credit: Marc Hom

 Alan Gilbert, Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, started the new season with two contrasting works, one familiar, one unfamiliar: Richard Strauss’ lush, exuberant “Don Juan” and Hindemith’s glittering, humorous “Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes by Weber.” Counting both among his favorites, he programmed them on the Gala Opening, on the first set of subscription concerts, and again two weeks later, but paired them each time with different works, including two virtuoso violin concertos: the Mendelssohn with Itzhak Perlman and the Sibelius with Joshua Bell.

One can assume that the concerts were attended by mostly different audiences, but the intrepid souls who heard all three programs were rewarded not only by some fabulous fiddling, but also by the chance to compare three different performances of the same works.

The latest program began with Debussy’s atmospheric “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun,” written 1892-94. Inspired by a poem of the same title by Stéphane Mallarmé published in 1876, the music depicts a faun passing a languorous afternoon in dreams and reveries. A true “tone painting,” it seems made of airy, dappled sunlight and fleeting shadows. The orchestration shimmers and glows with shifting, glittering colors; sinuous, elusive melodies wind through the texture; harp glissandi suggest leaves stirred by the breeze. Every instrumental timbre, singly and in combination, contributes to the sensuous, seductive effect. The piece, a test for a virtuoso orchestra, especially the woodwinds, features one of the literature’s greatest solo flute parts played wonderfully on this occasion by the Philharmonic’s principal flutist, Robert Langevin.

Joshua Bell’s performance of the Sibelius was terrific. The concerto brings out all his strengths: the effortless, unlimited virtuosity, glorious, variable tone, and romantic sensibility. The opening seemed to come from a great ice-bound distance, then, breaking free of the arctic cold, the sound became vibrant and intense; the great upward runs swept through the orchestra with dazzling bravura. The slow movement was dark, warm, and very expressive, and culminated in an ecstatic climax. The Finale was very fast and brilliant, but immaculately clear; even the impossible scales in thirds were perfect. In top form, Joshua Bell seems to be reaching new violinistic and communicative heights with every concert.

The Strauss and Hindemith also became more impressive with each performance. Gilbert seemed to exhibit greater confidence, freedom, and exuberance, and to encourage the musicians to do the same. In fact, the Strauss also became faster, demanding ever greater virtuosity from the players, and louder, with the percussion, partly placed toward the front of the stage next to the first violins, rattling the rafters – and the audience. But the build-ups were perfectly paced, the climaxes grand and rapturous.

It was good to hear the rarely-played Hindemith three times in close succession; repeated listening (and playing) clarified the complex counterpoint and intricate texture, and brought out the work’s light-hearted jocularity – a characteristic not often encountered in this essentially serious composer’s work.  

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by Edith Eisler  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra led by Gustavo Dudamel with featured artists Lang Lang and Yo-Yo Ma

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Carnegie Hall: Stern Auditorium; New York, NY
October 3, 2010

Gustavo Dudamel. Photo Credit Chris Lee

For the Vienna Philharmonic’s last two concerts, the young Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel took over from the veteran Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and a greater contrast can hardly be imagined. Even the seating of the string sections was different: Harnoncourt had the violins on opposite sides of the stage, Dudamel had them side by side. Only a few years ago, Dudamel created a sensation with his extraordinary talent; his amazing youthful accomplishments in his own country and abroad and his meteoric rise to fame culminated in his appointment as the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Music Director last season. He has impressed New York audiences conducting not only his Venezuelan Youth Orchestra (which he has been leading for eleven years and is now replicating in Los Angeles), but also great orchestras like the New York Philharmonic, and his appearances are always eagerly anticipated. The Vienna Philharmonic’s concerts were no exception.

 The three romantic masterpieces on the final program: Brahms’ “Tragic Overture,” Schumann’s Cello Concerto, and Dvorák’s “New World” Symphony, seemed a perfect choice for displaying Dudamel’s boundless energy, exuberance, and involvement. And indeed his performance of the Brahms was full of promise: noble, somber and austere, it struck a fine balance between passion and restraint, intensity and release. There were no extremes of tempo or dynamics, none of the whispering and crashing of the Vienna Philharmonic’s earlier Beethoven program.

 If anyone whispered, it was Yo-Yo Ma in the Schumann. Of all the great cello concertos, this is perhaps the least soloistic; it feels less like a showpiece than a conversation between soloist and orchestra. Emphasizing its intimacy, inwardness, and the poetic, almost spoken quality of its phrasing and melodic rise and fall, Ma interacted closely with the concertmaster and with the principal cellist in their slow movement duet. Unfortunately, his best intentions were defeated by the size of Carnegie Hall; his playing had all its customary beauty, variety and expressiveness, but his tone was often lost in the large space. Nevertheless, he received a standing ovation, and, after embracing the conductor and as many members of the orchestra as he could reach, notably the principal cellist, he returned to play the first movement of Bach’s G-major solo Suite.

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Led by Gustavo Dudamel in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage with featuring artist Lang Lang. Photo Credit - Chris Lee

 

If the Brahms, with its avoidance of exaggeration, had brought out the best in Dudamel, the Dvorák did the opposite. Everything was excessive and overdone. There was no whispering, but plenty of crashing; this must have been the loudest “New World” within memory. The sound was so thick that many important melodic and harmonic details were lost; the build-ups were so precipitous that climaxes were often reached long before their time. The temptation to draw maximal sound from a great orchestra must be irresistible to a conductor, especially a young firebrand; Dudamel seemed to be unleashing the elemental forces of nature. His conducting style is marked by an almost unremitting tension; he seems like a taut wire, physically and emotionally. Conducting from memory, his gestures were angular and stabbing, producing lots of aggressive accents, or large and sweeping, producing great masses of sound. The result was a “New World” Symphony long on drama, intensity and drive, short on lyricism and repose. The audience responded with the sort of screaming associated with rock stars rather than classical conductors; the encore, the Waltz from Bernstein’s Divertimento, was blessedly quiet.

Though it is true that Dvorák’s “American” works were influenced by native American idioms, his own native Czech idiom is never far away; in fact, his music seemed to get increasingly Czech as he became more homesick. If he had lived long enough to hear the words “Going home” later added to the English horn melody in the “New World” Symphony’s slow movement (played beautifully at this concert), he might have felt that they echoed his own sentiments.  

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by Edith Eisler  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor
Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
September 30, 2010

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra led by Nikolaus Harnoncourt – Photo Credit: Chris Lee

If the Orchestra’s first program was distinctly conventional, the second program was distinctly unusual: Bedrich Smetana’s six-part tone poem “Ma Vlást” (My Homeland). Though rarely performed in its entirety, the second movement, “Vltava” (The Moldau), is often played separately and has become an audience favorite.

Smetana (1824-1884) has been called the founder of nationalism in music. At a time when his country was part of German-speaking Austria, he studied and mastered Czech, an extremely difficult language, joined the nationalist movement, and incorporated Czech folk-music into his compositions. (The most famous one is the delightful comic opera, “The Bartered Bride.”) “Ma Vlást,” a highly programmatic work, is a celebration of Czech culture, history, and the beauties of the countryside.

The first movement, “Vysehrad,” describes the grand medieval Castle that once towered above Prague; its theme, the majestic opening arpeggios played alternately by two harps (seated in this performance on opposite sides of the stage), recurs in different forms in several movements.

The second movement, “Vltava,” is a Rondo whose theme is a broad, haunting melody with a strange resemblance to Israel’s national anthem, “Hatikva” (Hope). The music follows the river from source to estuary; on the way, it encounters peasants frolicking at a wedding, elves dancing in the moonlight, a forest hunt, and the rapids. When it passes Prague and Vysehrad, the harps re-state their arpeggio theme, taken up emphatically by the orchestra.

The third movement, “Sarka,” is a percussion-driven war-like march. Sarka, a maiden betrayed by her lover, seeks revenge on all men; she has assembled a band of warrior-maidens to battle an army of men. She tricks its leader into falling in love with her, then drugs the men into a drunken sleep and calls on her women to slaughter them. The music is loud, wild, and chaotic – a vengeful orgy.

Peace is restored in the fourth movement, “In Bohemia’s Fields and Forests.” It, too, is sometimes heard separately; its pastoral serenity, melodic flow, rich harmonies and concluding cheerful dance have made it almost as popular as Vltava.

The last two movements, “Tabor” and “Blanik” are meant to be played together, because both are based on the same Hussite hymn. Tabor is a Bohemian town used by the followers of Jan Hus (later executed as a rebel) as the site of their resistance to royal authority. Blanik is a mountain where a band of dead knights (or their spirits) stands ready to aid the nation in times of travail. The Hussite chorale serves as a majestic march of the rebellious and ultimately victorious Hussites, and finally as an assertion of “the resurrection of the Czech nation, its future happiness and glory.” “Tabor” is perhaps a bit too long; the chorale is repeated too many times, though in different keys, but “Blanik” is concise and ends triumphantly, with the Vysehrad theme sounding in the distance.

The work was ideally suited to the famous “Vienna” sound: the warm, velvety strings, the colorful woodwinds, the mellow brass, especially the prominent horns. The musicians seemed to revel in their own ravishing tone, the masterful orchestration, the idiomatic Czech rhythms and melodic lines. Again, the only flaw was a lack of balance: the middle voices often obscured the melodies and the brass and percussion were too loud.

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by Edith Eisler  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at The Carnegie Hall Opening Gala

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor
Lang Lang, piano
Carnegie Hall Opening Gala, New York, NY
September 29, 2010

Carnegie Hall opens its 2010-2011 season with a gala benefit concert featuring the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra led by Nikolaus Harnoncourt in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. The all-Beethoven program includes Symphony No. 7 in A Major as well as the Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, featuring guest soloist Lang Lang. Photo Credit: Chris Lee

 

To launch its new season, Carnegie Hall invited the Vienna Philharmonic for four concerts, the first two conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the last two by Gustavo Dudamel. The Opening Night Gala also celebrated the Orchestra’s 101st performance at Carnegie Hall, giving it an especially festive air.  

As is often the case with Gala concerts, the program was very conventional: Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony and first Piano Concerto. The only surprise was that the 80-year-old German-born, Austrian-based maestro had personally selected the 28-year-old Chinese pianist Lang Lang as his soloist, an odd choice that seemed based on an attraction of opposites. But as soon as the music started, it was clear that it was grounded instead in mutual respect and pleasure in working together.  

Harnoncourt is best known for his pioneering work with period-instrument groups, but he has gradually broadened his activities, conducting symphony orchestras and exploring the romantic literature. Using no podium or baton, he exhibited a degree of physical energy and emotional intensity that a man half his age might envy. His Beethoven interpretations seemed to follow traditional lines: respect for structure, dynamics and phrasing; restrained tempi, steady rhythm, and expressiveness without sentimentality. The only exception to this moderation was his penchant for excessive contrast between loud and soft, and for going from whisper to explosion with startling abruptness. In the most forceful moments, the strings sounded positively scratchy, the brass raucous – a distinct departure from the Vienna Philharmonic’s famously pure, mellow tone. Moreover, in Beethoven’s frequent descending two-note figures, Harnoncourt exaggerated the phrasing by dropping the second note to near-inaudibility. The performance’s most pervasive flaw was a lack of orchestral balance, with the winds, especially the brass, consistently overpowering the strings. Though this often happens with today’s orchestras, it came as a surprise here. Generally, though, the playing was as fine as always; intonation, ensemble, and precision were impeccable; every instrumental timbre stood out yet blended into the whole. Concertmaster Rainer Honeck (whose brother Manfred recently became Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony), seemed unusually active, leading with vigorous, assertive motions of his whole body.  

Lang Lang played the Concerto beautifully, with charm and a courtly grace free of the exaggerations which sometimes mark his playing. His legato sang; he brought out inner voices usually ignored; his tone was lovely at every dynamic level and full of subtle colors and nuances. Rhythmically flexible but not erratic, the music was sprightly and rippling in the fast movements , simple and expressive in the slow one. Though he reserved his by now legendary virtuosity only for the cadenza, he received a standing ovation; four eager little girls delivered gorgeous bouquets, which he presented to the three women who have cracked the orchestra’s all-male code, tossing the forth into the wind section. Then came the encore: the Finale of Prokofiev’s Seventh Piano Sonata, a marathon of racing, pounding fingers so wild as to be virtually unrecognizable.

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by Edith Eisler  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Music at the Ballet? Really?

Ballet and Music

Overheard before a performance of American Ballet Theater at the Metropolitan Opera House:  Old lady to usher: “Where can I get one of those infra-red listening devices?” Usher (incredulously): “For the ballet?”  Old lady (indignantly): “There’s an orchestra, isn’t there?”  With another usher’s help, she got her device and departed contentedly, but the incident clearly illustrated the disrespect with which a pit-band is customarily treated. Surely it is the management’s fault that the program lists the orchestra personnel in print so small as to be almost unreadable, and that, though section leaders often play substantial solos, their names are not included in the credits. Audiences are discourteous, talking during musical preludes and interludes and starting to applaud the dancers long before the music stops. But it is the dance critics who show their disdain for the orchestra most blatantly. They usually don’t mention the musicians or the conductors at all, and when they do, it is only to criticize, never to praise them. Obviously, the only people who actually listen to the music are music lovers and fellow musicians, especially those acquainted with the challenges facing a ballet orchestra: the technical difficulties of the scores; the constant alertness required to adjust the music’s demands to the dancers’; and the physical and mental strain of playing eight performances a week.

These reflections were inspired by several visits to American Ballet Theatre’s latest New York season. The repertoire featured some of the most formidable orchestral scores, such as Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet” with its stratospheric string writing; Mendelssohn’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” with its elfin fleetness and delicacy, and Tchaikovsky’s “Sleeping Beauty” and “Swan Lake” with their almost symphonic orchestrations. All include great solos for the principals; those for violin in “Swan Lake” are essentially concerto in length and virtuosity, but even concertmaster Ronald Oakland remained nameless in the program.

The programs also offered very skimpy information about the music itself. For example, the new ballet “Lady of the Camellias” was only described as set to “music by Chopin.” The program did not identify, or even list, the individual pieces, which included several Preludes and Waltzes in their entirety, and a lot of longer and shorter excerpts of different works for solo piano and piano with orchestra, such as the two Piano Concertos, the B minor Sonata, a Ballade, and two Polonaises. This omission left many members of the audience shaking their heads in puzzled frustration.

Performing this musical quilt required two pianists, so the Company invited Koji Attwood and Soheil Nasseri, both excellent players, to share the program. Probably because they were guest artists, they were given full credit in the program, though who played what was not indicated. But perhaps pianists are considered superior to humble pit-band players: the Company’s own fine pianist, Barbara Bilach, was prominently listed when she performed the solo part in Tchaikovsky’s Third Piano Concerto for “Allegro brilliante.”

Those who undervalue the musical dimension of ballet should remember that the music, whether arranged or expressly written for dancing, can stand on its own, while there would be no dancing without the music or musicians to play it.

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by Edith Eisler  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

The 2010 New York Musical Theatre Festival “Frog Kiss”

“Frog Kiss”
The 2010 New York Musical Theatre Festival
Theatre at St. Clement’s, New York, NY
October 4, 2010
Remaining Dates: October 6th, 10th, 11th and 13th

Hanley Smith and Curtis Holbrook, FROG KISS, NYMF 2010. Photo by Ellis Gaskell

“Frog Kiss”, a full musical production at the 2010 New York Musical Theatre Festival, is easy to embrace; it is hard to imagine anything more fun or memorable stemming from this festival, which is showcasing 27 full productions—many in the Broadway Theatre District area. A perennial, familiar heartwarming tale of acceptance, it is the lyrics and assemblage of characters that bring us originality, as does this particular cast.

The unfortunate news about this musical is that—unlike the long run of “South Pacific”, which we reviewed recently—it runs a total of only 7 times. Hopefully a much longer run is destined for this production and cast, which has the type of chemistry that would make any stereotypically-happy prince and princess proud. All the singers have fun with the staging, lyrics and music, and the full-house audience was with them all the way.

The excellent music by Eric Schorr has some “Candide”-influenced scoring, some Blues and Swing, and some Rap thrown in to keep with the times. The book by Charles Leipart is based on the Stephen Mitchell novella, and his lyrics are immensely enjoyable: “…a league of nations gives a girl palpatations” or funny innuendo such as “…a long sticky tongue for God only knows” when referring to the frog. “Frog Kiss” seems to spoof everything from Jimmy Durante to “West Side Story” (the line “a frog like that” instead of Anita’s “A Boy Like That”); French, German, Chinese and British stereotypes –Andrew Cao is hysterical with his British–to hints of Mel Brooks (“Three Ball Monte”, a jivin’ number in full swing, seems to get its musical influence from “The Inquisition”, a number from Brooks’ film “History of the World Part I”).

The song “Attention”, with music reminiscent of the “Cell Block Tango” in “Chicago”, gets the audience’s full attention with a tour de force, sexy performance by the terrific Manna Nichols as Hortense.  The opening of Act II is a very original play within a play, as the Princess and the Frog’s courtship is mocked by Hortense and Claus. Nichols and Theis Weckesser (Claus) do a good job pretending to be bad actors.

Princess Clementine, performed by the supremely talented singer and actress Hanley Smith, meets a frog she is determined to turn into a prince, and in doing so, Smith brings a multi-dimensional character to the fore—a unique mix of dumb blonde and probing intellectual, confidence and awkwardness, a combination of pomposity and sincerity along the lines of Meg Ryan’s character in “When Harry Met Sally”. Her voice is always on pitch and lovely in all aspects of the Broadway and coloratura range. Weckesser brings German-stereotype hilarity to his role of Claus. His performance brought to mind Kenneth Mars’ portrayal of Franz Liebkind in the original Producers film of 1968, and indeed after reading his bio, I see that he was cast as a Nazi storm trooper in the recent film version of the musical.

Other standout performers include Terry Burrell in a quirky, snazzy performance of Queen Margot; Curtis Holbrook’s endearing, evocative, and limber rendering of the frog, and Joseph Dellger, with his performance as King Frederic, the father of the two quarreling sibling princesses. The Director Kenneth Roberson, who did the choreography for “Ave Q”, does wonders with the staging and the actors, bringing variety and continuity at the same time. Zane Mark’s band, visible to house right, is a musical treat, as are orchestrations by Daryl Waters. The sound amplification had occasional interference, and balances between singers and the band, which sometimes overpowered due to not being in a pit, weren’t quite right. The sets are customarily bare for this type of festival production, but like much of the suggestive material, one can use one’s imagination. The excellent reaction-acting gives you a lot to admire, as there is so much variety in each actor’s expression that you don’t know where to look when several people are on stage; everyone, in other words, is always in the moment. The costume design by Austin Sanderson is fun and creative, and the choreography by Lorna Ventura is inventive, making good use of the stage.

The final performances of this run are on October 6th at 5pm, October 10th at 7:30pm and October 11th at 1pm—plus extended to include October 13th at 1pm— at the Theater at St. Clement’s, 423 W. 46th Street. Don’t miss “Frog Kiss”.

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by Anthony Aibel  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Sound+Vision

Sound+Vision: At War
Photographs from Iraq and Afghanistan by Chris Hondros
Music of Johann Sebastian Bach
Fusion Bande; Kenneth Hamrick, Artistic Director
Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, New York, NY
September 29, 2010

Anthony Turner, baritone

According to American Pulitzer Prize-nominated photojournalist Chris Hondros, “Bach’s meditations on emotion and loss seamlessly apply to war, whether fought in the 18th century or the 21st…the human experience of war has changed little over the centuries.” As I viewed revelatory, disturbing and often poignant photographs of soldiers and civilians while listening to live music of Johann Sebastian Bach, I agreed totally with that sentiment; I highly recommend this multi-media presentation.  

The counterpoint in Bach’s music fits perfectly with the chaos and internal struggles of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the gentle strands of melody in less complex music draws one into the deeply personal reactions of all the individuals on screen. The panel discussion, which followed the presentation, brought personal experiences into greater light, as journalists, educators, an Iraqi war veteran, and Hondros himself discussed their thoughts about the war and answered the audience’s questions. Hondros takes startlingly beautiful, clear photographs that were practically three-dimensional on the Getty Images screen. The expressions on the many faces were heart-wrenchingly multi-dimensional as well; one could see combinations of shock, horror, pain, hate, hope and even love.  

I felt almost present on the battlefield, the streets, in the hospital or in the school yard. Surprisingly, there were many joyful images—touching hints of what a free Iraq has become or will be. One memorable section showed the citizens’ delight with fresh, running water, seemingly symbolic of their newfound freedom. The photographs of Iraqi children with American soldiers showed the great contrast between intimidation and innocence. A stand-out performer in Fusion Banda was double bassist Andrew Trombley. The solo baritone Anthony Turner and the soprano Amanda Papuan were very good. Harpsichordist and Director Kenneth Hamrick did a fine job with coordination, but violinist Jerry Chiu had an edgy sound and approximate intonation.  

Bach’s 18th century music—opposed to Shostakovich’s 20th century, military-like music, for example— is a great choice, as it does mirror the antiquity and sacred nature of the Middle East countries. His counterpoint (several melodic lines at once) in turn represents the complexities and struggle of war, while sustaining an ironic tonality—seemingly symbolizing the goals of resolution and peace. This is a great concept and a marvelous presentation which should tour the US, and perhaps even Iraq and Afghanistan.

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by Anthony Aibel  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

International Violin Competition of Indianapolis

The Eighth International Violin Competition of Indianapolis
Indianapolis, Indiana
September, 2010

Clara-Jumi Kang; Gold Medalist-Photo Credit: Denis R. Kelly Jr.

The Eighth Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, which is one of the world’s most important, uniquely versatile competitions, recently held its final rounds with concerto performances by six Laureates and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.  Throughout most of September, 2010, there were many informative violin demonstrations, forums, showcases, recitals, performances, interviews and pre-concert lectures, and after an extremely fascinating display and comparison of old and new violins by Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Zachary De Pue—with voting by the audience (the public chose a 1717 Stradivari that is coincidentally owned by juror and world renowned violinist Cho-Liang Lin)—jury President Jaime Laredo announced the winners. The Gold Medal was awarded to 23 year-old Clara-Jumi Kang from South Korea/Germany.  Silver and Bronze medals were also awarded this year, with the Silver Medal going to 25 year-old Korean Soyoung Yoon and the Bronze Medal going to young American Benjamin Beilman, only 20 years of age and studying at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. 

Soyoung Yoon; Silver Medalist-Photo Credit: Denis R. Kelly Jr.

 

I enjoyed Beilman’s Sibelius Concerto immensely; it sweeped certain tired traditions clean. His phrases were shaped with distinct dynamic and tone-color contrasts, and there was an unusual longing and mystery to his interpretation, bringing simplicity and an honesty of spirit to the score I had never heard before. Because of that, I thought there was a chance he would be awarded the top prize. But because of some slight slips in the last movement and because other stages of the competition are taken into account, I thought Clara-Jumi Kang, who played the Beethoven Violin Concerto with sublime purity of tone and a fantastic precision for pitch and rhythm, would place very high. The choice of Beethoven instead of other concertos that might show more flashy virtuosic brilliance was a brave one, and it paid off for Kang, who won the Gold plus five special prizes. In the Beethoven concerto, she displayed the perfect balance of Classical Period simplicity and early Romantic expression—very difficult to accomplish for such a young violinist who wants to impress in competition. What she was able to show—above all else—was her extraordinary musicianship for her age, or any age for that matter. The slow movement, a daunting task in the high range of the instrument, is something which prevents many violinists from taking on this concerto. She performed it with sublime beauty. Beilman, incidentally, did win special prizes for best performance of a Bach work and for best performance of a Mozart Sonata. 

Benjamin Beilman; Bronze Medalist-Photo Credit: Denis R. Kelly Jr.

I guessed on target with regards to the Silver medal and the 4th, 5th and 6th place Laureates. Silver medalist Soyoung Yoon was as solid as a rock in her performance of the Sibelius Violin Concerto. She nailed all the octave and arpeggiated passages—plus the up-bow spiccato and double-stop passage work. She has a very rich, resonant middle range, though oddly her low G-String and very high range didn’t project as well. There was some monotony in this powerhouse performance; the playing needed more contrasting tone and dynamics, and more gradual pacing of the phrasing. 20 year-old Chinese violinist, Haoming Xie, was the Fourth Place Laureate—but he did win two special prizes for best violin-piano sonata (other than Beethoven) and best Ysaye Sonata performance. His playing in the Tchaikovsky concerto had lovely tempo contrasts, dynamic and tone variation, and sensitivity to peaks of phrases that were all lacking in 6th place Laureate and Russian violinist Andrey Baranov’s performance of that same concerto. Baranov, who unfortunately rushed quickly through the Tchaikovsky with some indifference, had a very lush sound that was hard to dislike, but—as with some of the other laureates— it didn’t often vary away from that. 

The 29 year-old Hungarian Antal Szalai, who placed Fifth, performed the difficult Bartok violin Concerto No. 2 with technical brilliance, but with nothing really unique to say with regards to color, dynamic expansion or a true sense of the Hungarian style with all its freedoms—and didn’t come close to past Indianapolis Gold medalists Barnabas Kelemen and Augustin Hadelich, who played this very work in the Indianapolis finals when they won in 2002 and 2006 respectively. Kelemen and Hadelich are both doing extremely well, incidentally. Hadelich recently performed as soloist with the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra, and Kelemen will be making his London Philharmonic debut. The major successes and exposure of these recent Indianapolis Gold medalists is reaching new plateaus; the winners prior to 2002 have been very successful, but more as recitalists and chamber musicians. Kyoko Takezawa, the 1986 Gold Laureate, enjoys a great solo career, playing with many major orchestras, though less-so recently. Ida Kavafian, a Silver medalist from 1982, is a highly successful chamber musician. There are even prominent orchestral musicians, as in the case of Juliette Kang (1994 Gold) who plays in the Philadelphia Orchestra, and David Chan—an American Bronze medalist from 1994—who is co-concertmaster at the MET. An American has never won gold in this competition’s history, although 6 out of the 8 competitions over the last 28 years have produced a third-place American winner. 

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, which is an important fixture at this competition and is most often associated with its venerable music director and conductor laureate Raymond Leppard, played with much sensitivity and enthusiasm, and they clapped appreciatively after every performance. Samuel Wong conducted two Tchaikovsky concertos and two Sibelius Concertos with great awareness to the varying details in each soloist’s interpretation; he did a fantastic job. The Hilbert Circle Theater is an acoustical gem, producing a natural, needed warmth and amplification to the Indianapolis string sound. Acoustical help aside, the strings have improved under its new concertmaster, Zachary De Pue.   

The backgrounds of the Laureates give a clear indication of the high level and experience required to become a finalist. Gold Medalist Clara-Jumi Kang started violin and piano lessons at the age of three and entered the Mannheim Musikhochschule at the age of four. At the age of seven, she auditioned at The Juilliard School where she was accepted with a full scholarship. Her numerous prizes in international competitions include First Prize at the 2010 Sendai International Violin Competition, Second Prize at the 2009 Hannover International Violin Competition, and First Prize at the 2009 Seoul International Violin Competition. Clara-Jumi is currently studying under Nam Yun Kim at the Korean National University of Arts where she was accepted as one of the youngest college students. Silver Medalist Soyoung Yoon received her first violin lesson at the age of five in her native South Korea. She was a prizewinner at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels and the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. She also received Grand Prize at the Odessa International David Oistrakh Violin Competition and First Prize at the Menuhin International Violin Competition in 2002. Soyoung has toured as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Asia and Europe. Previously a student at the Musikhochschule Köln, she is currently studying at the Zurich University of Arts in Switzerland.  

Bronze Medalist Benjamin Beilman has appeared as a guest soloist with the Philadelphia, Detroit, and New Mexico symphony orchestras and is a Presidential Scholar in the Arts. He won First Prize at the 2010 Montreal International Music Competition, First Prize and the Bach Prize at the 2009 Corpus Christi International String Competition, and was the Gold Medalist at the 2007 Stulberg International String Competition. A featured artist at the Marlboro Music Festival since age 17, he joins Musicians from Marlboro on tour in 2011. Benjamin currently attends The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. 4th Place Laureate Haoming Xie began studying violin at six and was admitted to Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing in 2008. He has won numerous awards including Second Prize at the China National Violin Competition and Fourth Prize at the Qingdao International Violin Competition. Haoming has soloed with orchestras throughout China and abroad. In 2009, Haoming performed in Brussels to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. 

 5th Place Laureate Antal Szalai first began his violin studies at the age of five. Since then, Antal has performed with such orchestras as the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic among many others. At age 15, he was invited to perform for the gala concert to celebrate Yehudi Menuhin’s 80th birthday. Antal will make his Viennese debut in 2010 at the famed Musikverein with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Szalai was a Laureate at the Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition and First Prize winner at both the Lipizer and Valsesia Musicale international violin competitions. 6th Place Laureate Andrey Baranov was born in Leningrad and began studying violin at the age of five. The recipient of numerous competition prizes, Andrey won Second Prize in the Sendai International Violin Competition, First Prize at the Benjamin Britten International Violin Competition, and First Prize at the Marteau International Violin Competition. Andrey has performed with such orchestras as the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic in London among others. Andrey studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and is currently enrolled at the Conservatory in Lausanne, Switzerland where he is an assistant to Pierre Amoyal. Andrey performs on a violin by Andrea Guarneri (1682). 

The 2010 Jury—in addition to the aforementioned Jury President Jaime Laredo and Cho Liang-Lin—included Pamela Frank, Rodney Friend, Yuzoko Horigome, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Boris Kuschnir, Mihaela Martin (the competition’s first Gold Medal Laureate back in 1982), and Joel Smirnoff. The competition’s prizes are wonderfully lavish and extremely appealing to all that enter, making this competition a necessity for the violinist who wants to make a major mark. As the Gold Medal Laureate, Clara-Jumi Kang will receive $30,000 dollars—plus $5,000 in special prizes, a likely four-year loan of the 1683 ex-Gingold Stradivari violin, a gold mounted Tourte-Voirin bow, an opportunity to record a CD for Naxos, a 24-Karat gold medal and a Carnegie Hall recital. I look forward to hearing her here on 57th street. The International Violin Competition of Indianapolis is consistently proving that the world of the violin—and indeed classical music itself would be a much smaller, less informed and less fortunate place without it.  

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by Anthony Aibel  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Opening Night of The New York Philharmonic

Alan Gilbert, music director and conductor
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
Wynton Marsalis, director and trumpet
Opening Night
Avery Fisher Hall, New York, NY
September 22, 2010


Wynton Marsalis – Photo Credit: Julie Skarratt

On the first concert of the Lincoln Center Fall season, the New York Philharmonic performed Strauss’s Don Juan, a most difficult score (it is used to audition string players for almost every orchestra), with supreme virtuosic strength and confidence, sounding as good as any top ensemble who has ever played it. Music Director Alan Gilbert’s tempos and pacing were perfect as usual, translating the composer’s intentions rather than trying to sauce it up with a personal interpretation, as his predecessor often did. Gilbert is not a showman; he is an honest man at the podium. Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber (the title is practically longer than the piece itself) was never milked for the sake of pandering to an audience, and Gilbert once again stayed true to the composer’s tempo markings and dynamics. As a result, the work and the orchestra’s playing were stirring and brilliant, and the delicate gem of a slow movement was played with just the right simplicity and tenderness.

Wynton Marsalis’ 45-minute Swing Symphony (in its US premiere) is about 30 minutes too long to be a concert piece. All the extended jazz riffs and solos take time away from the Philharmonic, which often served as an accompaniment. The moments that did integrate the orchestra were derivative of blues found in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess or the raucous elements of the Mambo from West Side Story— to name a couple possible influences. The prevalent, virtuosic solo playing by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra was always outstanding, however, and the audience clearly appreciated Mr. Marsalis’ playing and tremendous artistic effort here. One of the movements, which was played at the Berlin Philharmonic world premiere, was cut out of this US premiere—due to time allotment for the PBS telecast, but next season, the Philharmonic will play the symphony in its entirety. If anything, Gilbert should figure out ways to convince Marsalis to cut out more. And if that can’t be done, Marsalis needs to incorporate the symphony orchestra a lot more. I still think the concept of bringing the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic together is a good one; after all, expanding audiences and enriching cultural tastes are necessities in today’s world.

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by Anthony Aibel  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

International Keyboard Institute & Festival by Founder/Director Jerome Rose

L to R: Allen Yueh, I-Hsiang Chao, Jerome Rose, Ai Hattori, Michelle Yelin Nam

On Sunday, August 1 the results of the Dorothy MacKenzie Scholarship Awards were announced at the International Keyboard Institute & Festival by Founder/Director Jerome Rose.  The prizewinners performed a one hour recital in the final round of the competition which was open to those attending the full session of IKIF 2010.  The winners were awarded a total of $10,000 distributed as follows:

Michelle Yelin Nam $3,000; Anastasia Gromoglasova $2,000; Ai Hattori $2,000; Allen Yueh $2,000; I-Hsiang Chao $1,000

Next year’s Festival will take place from July 17-31, 2011.  Applications will be available online starting January 2011.  For further information about IKIF, please see our website at:  www.ikif.org

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by nyconcertreview  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY