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| 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.
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| Miri Shamir |
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