Renowned violin virtuoso Midori joined the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra at the Tennessee Theatre Thursday night for a rather introverted performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s 1845 “Concerto in E Minor for Violin and Orchestra,” Op. 64.
Playing with beautiful articulation, the opening theme was almost as visual as it was lyrical.
Bending and swaying throughout most of the first movement, motions that were close to being dancing as her body was caught up in the passion of the Mendelssohn’s opening melody, the action, nevertheless, seemed more self-absorbed than expressive.
There were moments when the tempos dove into phrases in some places and holding back at others.
The somewhat darker second movement was richly detailed with subtle nuances that are the hallmark of Midori’s playing, but one still felt as though one was listening to someone else’s conversation that one wasn’t intended to hear
It’s not that she didn’t play well, perhaps even brilliantly. She just seems to be playing for herself.
But she wasn’t the only standout violinist on the program.
Gabriel Lefkowitz, candidate for KSO concertmaster, was more than up to the task of playing the musical hero in Richard Strauss’ “Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life), Op. 40, in which the solo violin is the staring character in Struass’ grandiose self-portrait.
His was a performance in which his violin talked to the orchestra, while the orchestra filled in the textural details of the story.
Collectively, it was the best music of the concert, very well executed by conductor Lucas Richman and the musicians of the KSO.
The concert began with another personal vision in Lucas Richman’s own composition, “A Time for Heroes,” based on the heroic and enduring human strengths and spirit of the people raised in Appalachian culture.
Intended as a tribute to a small town’s indefatigable inhabitants in the face of generations of less than prosperity, it was music that had the spirit marching on at certain times and a singing soulfulness that carried through.
Harold Duckett is a free-lance contributor to the News Sentinel.
© 2011, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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