Word: violine
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Silverstein played Bach's Second Partita for solo violin, one of the rare pieces for unaccompanied violin. The difficulty of rendering harmonies and melodies simultaneously on the violin's four strings scares most composers away. Bach surmounted this limitation with an ingenious mixture of broken chords and double stops. He could thus create the illusion of a many-voiced instrument--he even wrote a convincing three-part fugue for solo violin...
This partita demands considerable sustained energy; the violin is never at rest. Long passages of uniform rhythmic figures challenge the performer's musicianship...
...self-assured poise. Almost motionless on stage, he produced a rich and seamless tone throughout the piece. Like the voice of a singer who never has to breathe, the sound never faltered. His phrasing was somewhat unelastic during the first movements, but the final Chacconne, a great test of violin virtuousity and musicianship, was a model of Bach interpretation, expressive yet tightly disciplined...
Lynn Chang, Stephen Hammer, Richard Yoder, and Yo-Yo Ma were the the soloists in Haydn's Sinfonia Concertante in B flat. Lynn Chang glowed in the limelight, playing the violin with just the right amount of youthful schmaltz, giving the entire piece energy and impulse. In their lesser roles, Richard Yoder's bassoon, Stephen Hammer's oboe, and Yo-Yo Ma's cello blended beautifully...
...intonation of the Bach Society violin section is notorious, but fortunately their accompaniment in the Concertante and the Concerto was unobtrusive, if not tame. They may have been inspired by the soloists' performances. Most disappointing in the Suite and Symphony were the solos and small ensemble passages, although the flutes and trumpets were consistently good. Less rigid conducting and freer interchange between the solo musicians in these sections would have improved the situation considerably...