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Seen and Heard International
Concert Review
Beethoven and Schumann: Seattle
Symphony, Günther Herbig, conductor, Nikolaj Znaider, violin,
Benaroya Hall, Seattle, 12.2.2006 (BJ)
A
richly romantic reading of one of the great classical concertos,
juxtaposed with a sufficiently expressive but classically
restrained performance of a quintessentially romantic symphony,
made this Seattle Symphony concert an intriguing study in
style contrasts. The concerto was Beethoven’s for violin,
with Nikolaj Znaider, born in Denmark 31 years ago to Polish-Israeli
parents, as soloist.
Risks are a necessary element in any worthwhile music-making,
and Znaider showed himself eminently willing to take them.
The result was one of the most open-hearted renderings of
this great work you could hope to hear. Znaider’s tone is
big and gloriously warm, his phrasing generously expansive.
I could only have wished for an equally large measure of
expressive discretion and technical control, but many passages
saw grandeur spill over into exaggeration because he allowed
emotion to push him into ungainly bulges of tone and some
surprisingly approximate intonation. Znaider is said to
be a fine Mozart player; I hope a future encounter with
him in more suitable repertoire may enable me to be more
unreservedly enthusiastic about a bold and likeable young
talent.
Meanwhile,
under the baton of guest conductor Günther Herbig, the
orchestra fulfilled its role with no less warmth but
rather more accuracy. Herbig is an insufficiently celebrated
master of the great Austro-German tradition, and after
intermission he gave us a performance of my favorite
Schumann symphony–No. 3, the “Rhenish”–that offered
abundant pleasure and many touches of insight at once
illuminating and fastidious.
This is a conductor who misses little, yet never exaggerates
– I could actually have welcomed a touch less
fastidiousness at one or two crucial points in the finale,
where a momentary relaxation of the pulse might have
enhanced the effect of some stunning formal invention
on Schumann’s part. But that is a tiny complaint. The
overall impression was of a rousing symphonic masterpiece
realized by a conductor in his element and an orchestra
in fine fettle, every section firing on all cylinders,
and the horns in particular producing prodigies of strength
and accuracy in the many taxing declamatory unisons
the composer demands of them.
Bernard Jacobson
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