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Ellsworth American, ME
10/03/05
BSO Review
Young Violinist Gives Breath-taking Performance
By Win Pusey
Special to The Ellsworth American
ORONO ~W It was a passionate affair that Maestro Xiao-Lu Li conducted with
the Bangor Symphony Orchestra on Sunday at the Maine Center for the Arts.
The music of Aram Katchaturian, with violinist Chuanyun Li, and Dmitri
Shostakovich~Rs Sixth Symphony combined for a truly electric afternoon of
music.
Prefacing these two larger works was a heartfelt tribute to Peter Re, the
conductor of the Bangor Symphony from 1964-1976. Re~Rs composition,
~SCelebratory Overture,~T was commissioned for, and played at, the Centennial
celebration of the orchestra in 1996. It was repeated on Sunday, with Re
conducting, to mark the 40th anniversary of his first season in Bangor.
After the piece was played, and after a standing ovation in tribute to Re~Rs
work in strengthening the orchestra during the decade plus of his tenure, he
was presented with a framed citation of appreciation and a large crystal
bowl.
Violinist Chuanyun Li~Rs biography sounds like the typical prodigy, if there
is such a thing, winning prizes at age five and scholarships by the
trunkful. A native of China, the 24-year-old has been in the United States
for seven years, at least when he was not on the road somewhere in the
world.
Li had the freshness and exuberance of a teenager as he approached the
devilishly delightful ~SConcerto in D minor~T by Katchaturian. The music is
derivative of Armenian folk repertoire with highly punctuated rhythms and
improvisatory melodies but its attraction lies in the brilliant
orchestration and total exploitation of the violin as an instrument.
These two factors were so melded in this performance that it seemed the
whole orchestra was playing the concerto, not accompanying it, this due to
the uncanny rapport between soloist, conductor and musicians.
Li~Rs style of playing had an enviable freedom from technical concern that
allowed him to play ~Soutside of the box.~T Which he did, quite literally. The
young man required space for roaming as he poured out intensely romantic
passages or the glittering chords and spiccatos of the first movement
cadenza. He created his own fingerboard shifting patterns, reminiscent of
Fritz Kreisler, to enhance the melodrama of the beautiful second movement
lament and the third movement theme all on the G-string. That third movement
was a tour de force for everybody and it all came off like a whirlwind.
Li was called back over and over, and graciously consented to play two
encores. The first, a Chinese piece he called ~SThe Song of the Fisherman~Rs
Harvest~T by Zhi Lee, was pentatonically based on typical Oriental motifs,
very lovely. The second, Monti~Rs ~SCzardas~T was pure gypsy, and left the
audience gasping.
This artist~Rs career is certainly one to watch.
The orchestra~Rs role in the Katchaturian was very, very good, as indeed it
was in the Shostakovich that followed. There seemed to be a higher level of
confidence among the musicians. Exposed solos, like the horn and celli
passage in the first movement, the extensive bassoon and viola work in the
second and the ~Sright-on~T tutti syncopation of the third were solid, musical
and rewarding.
The Shostakovich ~SSixth Symphony, op. 54, B minor,~T might be thought of as
the final work of a strange trilogy of symphonic efforts in the life of this
epochal composer. He was in trouble with the Communist Party for his Fourth
Symphony and had to withdraw its debut, whereupon he wrote the magnificent
Fifth in 1937 for the 20th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. The Sixth
(1939) became sort of a rebound from such tumultuous political intervention.
It is unusual in form, having only three movements, one long (Largo) and two
short (Allegro and Presto).
The first movement opens with violas, celli and bassoon in an expansive
theme that was executed with a full, rich sound invoking the introspection
of the score. A shorter subject, developed in fugal style, follows it with
episodic solo passages for woodwinds, again well interpreted by the
musicians. The entire movement is downward, ending with a pianissimo bass
clarinet. Being Shostakovich, however, it never loses coherence.
The second movement, a scherzo, can~Rt make up its mind whether to dance or
fake it. Maestro Li was a master at anticipating meter changes and strange
hemiolas while cueing violin squeals and offbeats. This section has been
called cynical but another way to hear it might be tongue-in-cheek.
The third and final movement of this intriguing work starts out for all the
world like the Lone Ranger theme. It could easily be incidental music for a
play or film. Lynn Brubaker, concertmaster, played a great solo passage
right in the middle and then it was back to the bombast of the glorious
Soviet march of progress. Even that, in the hands of a master, was well
worth hearing.
The concert, as a whole, had a warm spontaneity that infused all who were
there. Xiau-Lu Li has inspired excellence and pride in his players.
He has sought out artists of top caliber, not yet known, and taken the
community into his expansive personality in a way that seems to generate
loyalty and commitment. That he has recently signed a five-year contract is
a piece of very good news.
10/03/05
BSO Review
Young Violinist Gives Breath-taking Performance
By Win Pusey
Special to The Ellsworth American
ORONO ~W It was a passionate affair that Maestro Xiao-Lu Li conducted with
the Bangor Symphony Orchestra on Sunday at the Maine Center for the Arts.
The music of Aram Katchaturian, with violinist Chuanyun Li, and Dmitri
Shostakovich~Rs Sixth Symphony combined for a truly electric afternoon of
music.
Prefacing these two larger works was a heartfelt tribute to Peter Re, the
conductor of the Bangor Symphony from 1964-1976. Re~Rs composition,
~SCelebratory Overture,~T was commissioned for, and played at, the Centennial
celebration of the orchestra in 1996. It was repeated on Sunday, with Re
conducting, to mark the 40th anniversary of his first season in Bangor.
After the piece was played, and after a standing ovation in tribute to Re~Rs
work in strengthening the orchestra during the decade plus of his tenure, he
was presented with a framed citation of appreciation and a large crystal
bowl.
Violinist Chuanyun Li~Rs biography sounds like the typical prodigy, if there
is such a thing, winning prizes at age five and scholarships by the
trunkful. A native of China, the 24-year-old has been in the United States
for seven years, at least when he was not on the road somewhere in the
world.
Li had the freshness and exuberance of a teenager as he approached the
devilishly delightful ~SConcerto in D minor~T by Katchaturian. The music is
derivative of Armenian folk repertoire with highly punctuated rhythms and
improvisatory melodies but its attraction lies in the brilliant
orchestration and total exploitation of the violin as an instrument.
These two factors were so melded in this performance that it seemed the
whole orchestra was playing the concerto, not accompanying it, this due to
the uncanny rapport between soloist, conductor and musicians.
Li~Rs style of playing had an enviable freedom from technical concern that
allowed him to play ~Soutside of the box.~T Which he did, quite literally. The
young man required space for roaming as he poured out intensely romantic
passages or the glittering chords and spiccatos of the first movement
cadenza. He created his own fingerboard shifting patterns, reminiscent of
Fritz Kreisler, to enhance the melodrama of the beautiful second movement
lament and the third movement theme all on the G-string. That third movement
was a tour de force for everybody and it all came off like a whirlwind.
Li was called back over and over, and graciously consented to play two
encores. The first, a Chinese piece he called ~SThe Song of the Fisherman~Rs
Harvest~T by Zhi Lee, was pentatonically based on typical Oriental motifs,
very lovely. The second, Monti~Rs ~SCzardas~T was pure gypsy, and left the
audience gasping.
This artist~Rs career is certainly one to watch.
The orchestra~Rs role in the Katchaturian was very, very good, as indeed it
was in the Shostakovich that followed. There seemed to be a higher level of
confidence among the musicians. Exposed solos, like the horn and celli
passage in the first movement, the extensive bassoon and viola work in the
second and the ~Sright-on~T tutti syncopation of the third were solid, musical
and rewarding.
The Shostakovich ~SSixth Symphony, op. 54, B minor,~T might be thought of as
the final work of a strange trilogy of symphonic efforts in the life of this
epochal composer. He was in trouble with the Communist Party for his Fourth
Symphony and had to withdraw its debut, whereupon he wrote the magnificent
Fifth in 1937 for the 20th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. The Sixth
(1939) became sort of a rebound from such tumultuous political intervention.
It is unusual in form, having only three movements, one long (Largo) and two
short (Allegro and Presto).
The first movement opens with violas, celli and bassoon in an expansive
theme that was executed with a full, rich sound invoking the introspection
of the score. A shorter subject, developed in fugal style, follows it with
episodic solo passages for woodwinds, again well interpreted by the
musicians. The entire movement is downward, ending with a pianissimo bass
clarinet. Being Shostakovich, however, it never loses coherence.
The second movement, a scherzo, can~Rt make up its mind whether to dance or
fake it. Maestro Li was a master at anticipating meter changes and strange
hemiolas while cueing violin squeals and offbeats. This section has been
called cynical but another way to hear it might be tongue-in-cheek.
The third and final movement of this intriguing work starts out for all the
world like the Lone Ranger theme. It could easily be incidental music for a
play or film. Lynn Brubaker, concertmaster, played a great solo passage
right in the middle and then it was back to the bombast of the glorious
Soviet march of progress. Even that, in the hands of a master, was well
worth hearing.
The concert, as a whole, had a warm spontaneity that infused all who were
there. Xiau-Lu Li has inspired excellence and pride in his players.
He has sought out artists of top caliber, not yet known, and taken the
community into his expansive personality in a way that seems to generate
loyalty and commitment. That he has recently signed a five-year contract is
a piece of very good news.