Word: concertos
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...Bach's Concerto for Two Violins was a useful way to compare Josefowicz and Laredo. Though she came closer to technical perfection (his bowing suffered slightly from his need to conduct), he blended more fully with the ensemble. Though she was more visibly enthusiastic in performance, he was more vigorous in the fast outer movements...
Differences such as these cast an entirely new perspective on Sunday's concert filled with classical favorites. The program consisted of Mozart's Overture to "Le nozze di Figaro" (The Marriage of Figaro), K. 492, and his Violin Concerto in G Major, K. 216; Rossini's Overture to "L'italiana in Algeri" (The Italian Girl in Algiers), and Symphony No. 2 in D Major, op. 36 by Beethoven. The performance was conducted by guest conductor Andrew Parrott, who has won critical acclaim for his recordings of Baroque music. However, Parrott's expertise and insight into Classical and Romantic music...
...second Mozart piece, the Violin Concerto in G Major, featured Harvard's own Daniel Stepner. Stepner is in his eleventh year as concertmaster for H&H and is a member of many chamber ensembles in Boston. Once again, the orchestra played with a spare precision that complemented the brilliant music and Stepner's clear, light tone. At times, his tone seemed almost too thin, but his low notes were startlingly dark and rich. The cadenzas began tentatively, though they always progressed into intricate virtuosic passages rich with finely wrought ornamentations. The solo passage in the Adagio movement was especially memorable...
...Copland Clarinet Concerto turned out to be a vehicle for the virtuosity of BSO principal William Hudgins, who danced with ease through the highly syncopated score that gave even Benny Goodman a hard time at its premiere. The first movement of this piece contained the night's best music-making, with Hudgins bringing out broad lines of melody with suavity. At its best, it sounded like an American gymnopedie...
...orchestra into the national standard-bearer both he and Wilker envision. The Kennedy Center concert hall's acoustics are extremely poor, and the orchestra's playing is not much better. The most recent program that Slatkin conducted underscored both problems. A joyless, hurried reading of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto featured the prodigy violinist Sarah Chang, 16, who cluelessly bowled her way through the war-horse, leaving Slatkin and the orchestra to catch up as best they could. The Brahms Fourth Symphony was better, benefiting from the sturdy, muscular interpretation that the new maestro favors, but it still lacked the refinement...