1 November 2008 saw the revisit of Sarah Chang to the DFP Hall after a hiatus of a few years. The concert opened with Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol Op 34, one of my favourite orchestral pieces because of its colourful and vivid orchestration. I especially love the Berlin PO's version on DG under Lorin Maazel.
Despite the attentions of Chilean conductor Maximiano Valdes, there was insufficient colour and drama in Rimsky-Korsakov's masterpiece (that also rubs shoulders with Scheherazade and Russian Easter Festival Overture).
Now a Sarah Chang concert is an event not to be missed - because of her showmanship. I had met her for a press interview before the concert and she told me that she is preparing a EMI of the Bruch Violin Concerto No 1 and Brahms Violin Concerto with Kurt Masur. It is due for release this fall.
The impressions of the Bruch is typical of a Sarah Chang concert - with generally excellent technique and passion. However, intonation in the higher registers veered on the sharp side and vibrato tending to be very fast and accentuating the sharpness of the intonation. There were some inconsistencies with the score (like pressing ahead of the final coda at the end of the concerto in the 3rd movement), thereby losing ensemble with the MPO. If the forthcoming EMI CD of the Bruch is of this standard, then the international critics would have a field day making similar musical criticisms.
I was not well with a bad cold and therefore had to miss the second half of the concert - which was an interesting concert concoction of Penderecki's Symphony No 2 (Christmas Symphony).
No comments:
Post a Comment