classical performance round-up

This weekend brought a huge program to the Schnitz.  Huge how?  Well, first, in terms of a major new talent that is just beginning to be known here in America, the Latvian violinist Baiba Skride, playing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto.  Second, the Walton First Symphony, a gigantic workout for the entire orchestra that makes a similarly large (read LOUD) sonic statement in its second performance in OSO history.

Where to start with violinist Baiba Skride (BYE-beh SCREED-eh)?  She’s got virtually flawless technique, with a paradoxically rich, yet transparent sound, and one of the finest Strad violins (from 1725) I’ve ever laid eyes (and ears) on.  In her opening night performance (and preceding rehearsals) she managed to take the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto from being merely a self-aggrandizing showpiece parody (as often witnessed in the progeny of the Galamian/DeLay school) to a satisfying musical experience with an over-arching shape that makes the second and third movements part of the structure rather than simply being encores for the wad-blowing of the first movement.  She actually follows the many tempo instructions given by the composer (and opens all of the customary cuts), which results in a more laid-back first movement that doesn’t often go for the jugular, but which slowly builds tension while also giving each theme the proper breathing room to speak properly.  In performance, she created an atmosphere of true chamber music-making more powerfully than any other soloist I’ve worked with so far.

The program opened with Sibelius’ Scene with Cranes, which is a powerfully evocative work showing the inner landscape of dreams.  I think of it as a very lightly drawn landscape in delicate pastels, with most shadings of dynamics never rising above piano.

The Walton First Symphony is such a gigantic work – exhausting to perform – that seemes fueled by enormous reservoirs of anger and nervous energy.  It’s worth hearing if only for the magnificent, full-throated brass playing of our excellent horn, trumpet, trombone, and tuba sections.  Even the dull acoustics of the Schnitz were humming with the huge chords in the first and fourth movements – no small feat!  Saturday night’s performance ended with an incredibly loud “BRAVO!!!” that came from the far reaches of the upper balcony – so jarring to the audience that it stunned them out of their initial appause – seemingly they were worried that the excited Anglophile might have preempted the actual last chords of the piece.  But no, he waited until the end (but not before the sound had died out) to scream his approval – and though his enthusiasm was appreciated, it did lead to a lot of open laughter in the orchestra as the confused scene played itself out.