Word: soloists
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Last week, the Boston Symphony Orchestra performed at the Roxbury Community College to celebrate conductor Seiji Ozawa's 25th Anniversary. Roberta Flack hosted the event, with Joseph Lin '00 joining them as a featured soloist for the first movement of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D, Opus 35. The grand affair, whose ambitious program featured famed excerpts from the likes of Strauss, Beethoven and Gershwin, kicked off a new BSO initiative called "Symphony in the City" the aim of which is to offer free music to the city neighborhoods of Boston...
Schiff was the soloist for Beethoven's fourth Piano Concerto, Op. 58--technically the most challenging of five; and musically the most adventurous. Schiff is known for silky Schubert and playful Bach, and the Beethoven fit under his fingers less naturally. Although his prodigious gifts made for some hair-raising pianissimo, his playing lacked the requisite Schnabelian drive. He strove for a nearly pedal-free sound at times when more blurring would have been a relief, and he attached the first movement cadenza with all the grace of an angry farmer. The effect was wild, precipitous, unique...
...Schiff was the soloist for Beethoven's fourth Piano Concerto, Op. 58-technically the most challenging of five; and musically the most adventurous. Schiff is known for silky Schubert and playful Bach, and the Beethoven fit under his fingers less naturally. Although his prodigious gifts made for some hair-raising pianissimi, his playing lacked the requisite Schnabelian drive. He strove for a nearly pedal-free sound at times when more blurring would have been a relief, and he attacked the first movement cadenza with all the grace of an angry farmer. The effect was wild, precipitous, unique...
This concerto existed in a rougher, more Beethovenian perform before the Finnish composer excised some blocky, thorny passages from the first movement. There is still plenty of muscular music in the 1905 version we hear tonight, which makes greater demands on the soloist in terms of smoothness and tone. In rehearsal only the first two movements were heard, apparently because of Yannatos' temper, but two were enough to show Castelli at the top of her game. Awesome voicing, awesome dynamic range, and some Heifitzian melodrama suggest a Sibelius not to be missed. For those inclined to adduce parallels, note...
...with J. S. Bach's Overture to the Orchestral Suite in D Major. With dignified energy, MSO grabbed the audience's attention from the very beginning. Lehmann himself performed a solo, Violin Concerto in G by Haydn, with the orchestra accompanying. As the strings echoed and flourished the soloist's line, it was evident that MSO not only had energy but also a thorough command over style and technique. The highlight of the evening came at the end with Ottorino Respighi's The Birds, a piece incorporating the voices of four birds. MSO charmed the audience as it took...