The audience was ecstatic! It was a most
enjoyable concert. (Review by Barbara Trofimczyk)
The Playhouse Opera Theatre
October 26, 2023.
Schumann - "Spring" Symphony : Beethoven
- Violin Concerto in D
Conductor - Irene Delgado-Jimenez : Soloist
- Nekita Boriso-Glebsky (violin)
For this concert on Thursday the orchestra
was back to the standard 46 players. After the full symphonic sound of the
'double orchestra' the previous week, the difference was inevitable, and
notably in the string section.
To some extent this was reflected in the performance of the "Spring" Symphony, mainly in the 'forte' passages where the brass and woodwinds often overpowered the strings, exacerbated by the rather fast tempi. The unsympathetic acoustics of the Playhouse Opera theatre may also have played a role here! Richly scored, slightly lower tempi overall would have better captured the light-hearted 'springtime' quality of the music.
Without a doubt, the Beethoven Violin Concerto was the highlight of the evening. Unprecedented at the time of its composing, it is still regarded as one of the most challenging concertos ever written for the violin being both technically very demanding and requiring a highly sensitive musical interpretation. Soloist and orchestra excelled in this performance, and the audience responded with a standing ovation.
NiKita Boriso-Glebsky has a beautiful rich tone that projects clearly over the orchestra, and he is indeed a master of violin virtuosity! His encore, an astonishing arrangement of Schubert's famous song, "The Erlkönig", incorporating the original piano accompaniment, voice part and dynamics, in an amazing display of double stops, was the subject of much comment by concert goers after the concert - 'amazing" - "interesting" - "was it Paganini?" - "wow" (and from a singer), "Schubert desecrated".
The audience was ecstatic! It was a most enjoyable concert. - Barbara Trofimczyk
The third concert in the Spring Series will take place on November 2, 2023, in the Playhouse Opera at 19h00. Booking is at Quicket.
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