concert review: Symphony Silicon Valley

[calimac]

This was the first live concert I've been to since December 2nd, which by my standards is a fairly long drought. So it was nice to get some familiar comfort music.

First came an extraordinarily quiet, subdued reading of Vaughan Williams's gorgeous pastorale tone poem for violin and orchestra, The Lark Ascending. The soloist was the venerable Joseph Silverstein. And the conductor? There wasn't one. Silverstein nominally led; he gave a few cues by nodding his head, and used his bow to set time in a few passages when he wasn't playing. But otherwise the orchestra was on its own, with nothing but the notes of the solo to guide them. They must have rehearsed diligently, because it came off very well. Plain, effective; plush sound especially in the horn solo.

It was a little easier for Silverstein to do the same thing in Mozart's "Turkish" Violin Concerto. This was a pleasant rendition - it didn't descend into a dryly mechanical performance, but it didn't rise into transcendent beauty either, which the slow movement at least deserves.

However, as an encore Silverstein played a movement of unaccompanied solo violin Bach - I don't know this repertoire well offhand, but I think it was the Prelude from the Partita in E. This was utterly riveting all the way through, an awesome performance.

Afterwards we had Elgar's Enigma Variations. This is a work full of characters (from Elgar's life), and this was a performance full of character. The opening sections had some ensemble problems in fast passages, but the piece gradually came together. The slow, majestic "Nimrod" had a fine fluidity and tension of line, and both it and the contrasting "Dorabella" that followed gave a real sense of a person behind the musical portrait. And in turn both "Dorabella" and the following famous depiction of Dan the bulldog in the River Wye were actually funny.

But the best moment came in the cryptic "Romanza", where Michael Corner's clarinet played the Mendelssohn tag in the softest, most tentative and distant way over the throbbing of the ocean liner's engines in the drum sticks. The finale was cheerful and lively and drove the work home very well.

Comments

[asimovberlioz.livejournal.com]

There's an easy way you can tell if it was the Preludio from the Partita in E Major. The English violinist Tasmin Little has learned a lesson from Radiohead, and has posted on her website a complete studio recording of contrasting works for unaccompanied violin. They consist of this Bach, a modern piece by British composer Paul Patterson (who has waived his payment for the purpose), and one of the Eugène Ysaÿe unaccompanied sonatas.

She also has some optional spoken intros, which are helpful and informative, and which best of all do not talk down to the listener. She also briefly discusses the different qualities of the two violins she typically plays.

This recital aroused some lively discussion in the Usenet newsgroup I follow. Miss Little herself even popped in to answer a few questions. Her stated reason for giving this recital away is to help find new listeners for classical music, but I think if her ticket and recording sales benefit from the publicity, there's nothing wrong with that happening too.

I'm glad to hear Joe Silverstein is still going strong. In recent years he has been music director of the Utah Symphony and the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra. Back in the 1970s I heard him as part of the visiting Boston Symphony Chamber Players, and spoke with him briefly in the green room afterward. One of my fiddler friends had played a joke on me by saying that Silverstein had extra phalanges on his fingers, and I was sufficiently gulled by her claim to check it out. His fingers were completely normal, if rather long and slender.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

If you read Making Light, they have a link in the Sidelights (or maybe Particles) to a banjo performance of the same prelude. There are also piano versions by Rachmaninoff and Saint-Saens, and Bach used it in the cantata "We Thank Thee, Lord, We Thank Thee" (only he stuck some German title on it, of course).

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

...By coincidence, I was at Barnes & Noble with Sarah about a week ago, and she decided I should get a copy of the Enigma Variations. I picked out the cheapest one because I've always kind of wanted to get into the piece a little. Nimrod, of course, I know. It's taken out of context for all sorts of things -- Grainger arranged it for piano solo, for instance.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm curious ... what did you think about the winds moving forward for the first half? We began in our usual spot, but hearing was a challenge, especially for the Vaughan Williams. The Maestro moved us forward and I was quite happy to be up there. I wonder how the balance works when we are off that (minuscule) riser.

We are still working on how we should set up in that hall in order to enable the winds to carry, see the Maestro, and hear the strings. It's never an easy thing to figure out.

It's nice to hear your take on the concert. My mother and sister were there and they just loved it. I certainly enjoyed playing the Mozart and Elgar.

-patty