Friday, April 29, 2022

Khachaturian/Franck - the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion in Tel Aviv. Conductor: Fabio Mastrangelo. Solo violin: Sergey Ostrovsky

Fabio Mastrangelo, Sergey Ostrovsky (Courtesy ISO Rishon LeZion)
                                  
                                  
 

Offering a program of works of Khachaturian and César Franck, Concert No.5 of the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion's 33rd season featured conductor Fabio Mastrangelo and violinist Sergey Ostrovsky. This writer attended the event at the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center on April 24th 2022.

 

Composed in two months during the summer of 1940 and premiered in Moscow in November of that year, Aram Khachaturian's Violin Concerto in D minor, a link in the stream of large-scale Romantic violin concertos and tallying with longstanding tradition of attractive, accessible fare, contributed to sealing Khachaturian's reputation as the leading Armenian composer of his generation. (Though Armenian, he was born near the Georgian capital of Tiflis, now Tbilisi, in 1903.) Put together in a rush of inspiration, it was written specifically for Khachaturian’s friend David Oistrakh, who worked closely with him during the concerto’s composition, also performing its premiere. In fact, much of the work’s character was enhanced by Oistrakh’s suggestions; the violinist rejected Khachaturian’s original long cadenza in the first movement, replacing it with a masterfully composed version of his own. "I consider your cadenza better than mine… a fantasy on my themes and… convincing in its form" was the composer's reaction to it. Choosing Oistrakh's cadenza, Sergey Ostrovsky's playing of it was shaped with intensity, tenderness and a sense of discovery. Altogether, Ostrovsky's musical personality, his authoritative playing and natural energy gave vivid expression to the concerto's modal, exotic and oriental colourings, its exuberant sense of improvisation and the sturdy folk rhythms representing its captivating rhythmic diversity. But in all its virtuosic splendour, as the work's layering emerged with crisp articulacy, soloist and conductor created a sensitive balance between large tutti and intimate expression. In the first movement (Allegro con fermezza) there was magic in the dialogue between solo violin and clarinet, also in the solo bassoon's soliloquy opening the brooding, bittersweet Andante sostenuto movement, with Ostrovsky then taking up the melodic course in wistful hues. A fine concert piece, vividly performed, it signs out with one of the most ebullient finales in the concerto literature. 

 

For an encore we heard Ostrovsky performing the "Méditation" for solo violin and orchestra from Jules Massenet's opera "Thaïs", its ravishing poesie enhanced by the delicate sounds of the harp. Born in Russia, Sergey Ostrovsky studied at the Gorky Conservatory, in 1991 immigrating to Israel. A founding member of the Aviv String Quartet, he performs widely, today teaching at the Geneva University of Music.

 

How rare it is nowadays to hear César Franck's Symphony in D minor at a concert! Why has the summing-up of the composer's life in music, this work ambitiously and controversially integrating French and German musical traditions, fallen out of favour with conductors and concert programmers? From its 1888 launch, musical criticism sent the symphony off to a bumpy start. Indeed, Franck's wife herself denounced its "morally compromising sensuality and passion!"  From the symphony's sombre, questioning opening motif, the Rishon LeZion Orchestra's performance, under the vigilant, solicitous and articulate direction of Maestro Fabio Mastrangelo, was proof of the symphony's concert-hall desirability. Mastrangelo gave expression to the drama and sinewy strength of its immense tutti and the dynamic refinement of its luminous textures, its sense of suspense and clarity of line, melding the composer's rich harmonic language with much timbral interest and beauty. And the performance reflected the fact that Franck was a devout mystic and an organist. Following the emotional intensity of the opening Lento movement, the cor anglais solo over glistening harp and string pizzicati, illuminating the grace of the 2nd movement (Allegretto), was poignant and haunting. Altogether, the woodwind and horn writing in this movement represents one of the finest aspects of this work. With melodies from the previous movements returning throughout the fabric of the Allegro non troppo, the final coda, a blaze of D major colour, drives the compelling symphonic struggle of the work to a satisfying end. Born in Bari, pianist/conductor Fabio Mastrangelo performs worldwide, but largely in Russia, where he is unanimously considered Russia’s most successful Italian-born conductor. He made his St. Petersburg operatic debut in 2002, with "La Traviata" at the Mussorgsky State Theatre (now Mikhailovsky) and is a permanent guest at the St. Petersburg’s Palaces Festival.

 

It was an uplifting and exhilarating evening of music. When it comes to concerts of large orchestral works, in which the visual aspect joins the listening experience, the auditorium of the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center is the ideal venue. 



Miri Shamir

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