Projo Arts Blog

The big news coming out of Saturday's Rhode Island Philharmonic concert was the return of German cellist Alban Gerhardt, who gave a wonderfully heartfelt performance of the dreamy Elgar Cello Concerto. Gerhardt, who has quite a reputation in Europe, made his Philharmonic debut last season and was quickly signed up for an encore appearance.

And it's not hard to see why. He's quite a superstar, right up there with the likes of Yo-Yo Ma. What was so special about the Elgar was the emotional range Gerhardt brought to the score. You found yourself hanging on every note of the tender slow movement, while there was great drama to the opening passages and lots of drive to the fleeting "Allegro molto" section.

There was also an amazing lushness to his playing, which had no trouble filling Veterans Memorial Auditorium.

But the Elgar was not the only offering on the program. Conductor Larry Rachleff opened with the dance suite from Manuel de Falla's "The Three-Cornered Hat," which had a sizzling finale. Jane Murray stood out for her fine English horn solo.

Then after intermission came a glittering performance of Igor Stravinsky's "Petrouchka," written just a few years before the Falla in 1911. Rachleff chose to perform the complete ballet score from 1947. He told the audience before the start of the performance that this was perhaps Stravinsky's "most virtuosic" piece for orchestra. It is certainly his most colorful and upbeat.

The score has a lot of folk-like tunes, as it tells the tale of a magician who brings to life thee puppets; Petrouchka, a ballerina and a handsome but stupid Moor. Petrouchka falls for the ballerina, who is repelled by him. She is more interested in the Moor, who ends up getting in a fight with Petrouchka and killing him. In the end, Petrouchka's ghost appears over the puppet booth to mock the crowd.

Rachleff said Stravinsky called that coda "my very best last few measures."

Anyway, the performance was stunning, with some terrific solo work from principal trumpeter Joe Foley, who was heard in a number of bright, sunny passages, and from principal flutist Susan Thomas. The male pianist, who wasn't identified in the program, was also excellent.

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Save on tickets to the last two offerings from the FirstWorks festival. Tickets to Cirque Mechanics, which comes to the Providence Performing Arts Center Nov. 14, are half price this Sunday, Nov. 8. Call 421-2787, promotional code "FirstWorks."

And bring a friend who has never seen the Providence Singers and save $10 each for the group's Nov. 15 concert for chorus and percussion at Beneficent Congregational Church. The show is at 3 p.m. Email marketing@providencesingers.org. for the discount password.

Edward Markward, conductor and music director of the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra, is one of three candidates being considered to fill the position of music director of the Montpelier (Vt.) Chamber Orchestra, the Times Argus newspaper in Montpelier reports.

The position opened up last year when the music director of one year unexpectedly resigned, according to the Times Argus.

Markward is to conduct two audition concerts this weekend at the Vermont College of the Fine Arts in Montpelier, according to the newspaper. One show is Saturday night, the other Sunday afternoon. He is the last of the three candidates to audition. Previously, Paul Gambill, music director of the Nashville Chamber Orchestra, and Victor Rosenbaum, a conductor and concert pianist in Boston, have auditioned, according to the Times Argus.

Markward, who lives in North Providence, has led the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra since 1973.

Conductor Larry Rachleff has made something of a specialty out of the symphonies of Dmitri Shostakovich, having performed seven of them during his years here. Saturday night he revisited the composer's most popular symphony, his joyous and at times brooding fifth.

As Rachleff said from the podium just before launching into the score, Shostakovich was in big trouble in 1937. His dissonant opera Lady Macbeth of Mtensk had angered Stalin and the Soviet leaders. So by way of an apology, Shostakovich penned the fifth, which seemed much more tame than his fourth symphony, but contained, as Rachleff said, a "coded message to the people."

Rachleff has made it clear in the past that he has a knack for this music and Saturday at Veterans Memorial Auditorium he proved once again that he can make Shostakovich sing. He was perhaps less than decisive in the searching opening section, but once the movement got rolling it was unstoppable. He managed to bring out the darkness as well as the sense of upliftedness. And there was a cynical edge to the second movement's dances, and a deep sadness to the gorgeous slow movement.

Here the strings sounded full and silvery. The playing was in fact fine throughout with some standout solos from first-chair flutist Susan Thomas and concertmaster Charles Sherba.

Then came the rousing finale, with its thundering side drum, which made for a fitting conclusion to a true masterpiece.

Rachleff opened the evening with a brief but brilliant fanfare by Philadelphia Orchestra resident composer Jennifer Higdon called Loco. The work was a commission commemorating the centennial of the train that encircles Ravinia Park in Chicago, where the Chicago Symphony performs during the summer months. But there is a double meaning here. It's also a piece that's a little crazy, a pulsing, glittering score with lots of drive and rhythmic interest. Higdon even captures in the trombones the so-called Doppler effect, when the pitch drops as the train passes into the distance.

It's a short work, probably ten minutes, but a real workout for the orchestra. And Rachleff and company nailed it.

But the high point of the evening might just have been violinist Soovin Kim's lyrical take on the first Bruch concerto. Here was an artist who put a fresh face on a familiar work, someone who played with confidence and passion. Kim is not only an impeccable technician, but an interesting musician who can make something out of a phrase.

He plays a 1709 Stradivarius, which made for a lush tone and a sweet top. He's also a physical player who really wraps himself around the music. Rachleff and the orchestra deserve a hand, too, for skillfully backing Kim up. It was more than an accompaniment, though. It was as true partnership.

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James Levin's return to the podium of Boston Symphony Orchestra has been delayed about a week.
Levine recently underwent surgery to repair a herniated disc in his back. He was tentatively scheduled to return in time to lead the BSO in a complete cycle of Beethoven concerts between Oct. 22 and Nov. 7.
The orchestra announced Thursday that -- on doctor's orders -- Levine will sit out the first two programs in the cycle while he continues to recuperate. But he's expected to return for performances of Beethoven's Sixth and Seventh symphonies Oct. 30-31, and Eighth and Ninth symphonies Nov. 5-7.
Levine's surgery had also forced him to withdraw from performances of the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

_ from Associated Press

Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor James Levine has been forced to withdraw from several concerts so that he can undergo back surgery.

A statement from the BSO said the surgery for a herniated disc was unanticipated and would take place immediately.

Levine has had to step down from two Symphony Hall concerts and an appearance by the orchestra at New York's Carnegie Hall. That program will be led by Daniele Gatti, music director of the Orchestre National de France.

Levine, 66, was forced to withdraw from Tuesday's program at Symphony Hall. For Saturday's concert, assistant conductors Shi-Yeon Sung and Julian Kuerti will share the podium.

Levine underwent shoulder surgery after a fall from the Symphony Hall stage in 2006. Last year he had surgery to remove a cancerous kidney.

It's always a little amazing how the Rhode Island Philharmonic can sit down after not playing together all summer, save for a pops concert or two, and knock one out of the park. But that's pretty much what happened Saturday night when the orchestra kicked off its season at Veterans Memorial Auditorium.

The sunny Second Symphony of Brahms ended with a diriving, orgiastic finale, and the playing in the opening School for Scandal Overture of Barber was sharp-edged and right in focus. Then there was a wonderful performace of the Thirid Beethoven Concerto with the remarkable Russian-born, German-based pianist Lilya Zilberstein at the keyboard.

Zilberstein, who has played here several times now, is getting to be a welcomed guest, she played with such control and conviction. She is perhaps best known for her Russian repertoire, for her Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev, so it was kind of interesting to see what she would do with the Beethoven, a work that dates from 1800 and is a product of the Classical age, but with one foot testing the waters of the Romantic period.

As expected there were Romantic leanings in the gorgeous slow movement. How could you play it any other way? But otherwise this was a taut, focused reading with crisp passagework and lovely melodic lines.

Among the magical moments was that breathtaking return of the orchestra after the thundering cadenza. Rachleff let the players sneak in ever so judiciously after a series of trills. Then Zilberstein joined in with rippling arpeggios.

Rachleff opened the night with the Barber, a brilliant work even though it's the composer's first score for orchestra, written when he was 21. The control here was remarkable, even in ticklish passages. And there was a wonderful sense of poignancy to that soaring secondary theme.

Rachleff took time out to talk a little about the program and to remember Nedo Pandolfi, the legendary music teacher at Ponaganset High who died this week. He dedicated the Brahms to him.

And that was the high point of the night. Rachleff took his time with the opening, but picked up the pace as the movement proper kicked in. It was a warm expansive reading, but one with plenty of tension and forward movement.

And no where was that more evident that in the joyous, exuberant finale. This was some of finest playing I've heard from the orchestra in a while.

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