concert review: Symphony Silicon Valley

[calimac]

I was originally slated to review this. That got cancelled, for reasons to be revealed later, but I couldn't resist going anyway: Gregory Vajda was conducting a program of some of the juiciest 20C classics.

An overture by Martinů from the 1950s lacked the characteristic crunchiness of his 1940s masterpieces, but was so fervently neo-baroque that, had I heard it with no name attached, I would still have said, "One of only two composers could have written this: either Martinů or Bloch." It got tepid applause.

Prokofiev's Love of 3 Oranges Suite went better, and his Third Piano Concerto zipped by like a fast sports car to thunderous appreciation. Despite the speed, despite the extreme angularity of the music, and also despite her being clad entirely in glistening red sequins, soloist Natasha Paremski is a pianist of refined, graceful fluidity rather than fire; Argerich she ain't. And she proved this with her encore, a quiet, flowing bit of Chopin.

Vajda laid out Janáček's Sinfonietta in a conventional manner, not putting the brass up in the balcony like MTT did, or anything like that. It was a decent enough performance, but with enough bobbles that I was really sorry for the absence of principal horn Meredith Brown, who could have imposed some much-needed discipline on her section. Concertmaster Robin Mayforth was out too, but I know what she was doing, because I'd heard her doing it the previous evening. (Did I say "reasons to be revealed later"?)

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

It was in the summer of 1999, I think, when Severance Hall was undergoing renovations and was unavailable to serve as the Cleveland Orchestra's rehearsal space for their summer festival performances at Blossom, so they rented our largest auditorium--only 600 seats, less than one-third Severance's size--for that purpose. From a technical perspective, we found it most challenging to provide them as much light as they wanted; it's rarely so bright over so large an area in theater! But what I remember best is ducking into the house to listen to them rehearse the last movement of the Sinfonietta. The room positively swelled with the sound. It was incredible.

-MTD/neb

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, this one. (Great performance, too.)