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| Violinist Paul Huang. |
Classics: Pictures and Painters
The Louisville Orchestra
Jorge Mester, conductor
Paul Huang, violin
Review by Scott Dowd
Entire contents are copyright © 2013 Scott Dowd. All
rights reserved.
Performers like violinist Paul Huang are the reason I love live concerts. Recordings are
wonderful and I am sufficiently in awe of the smart phone’s potential, but
there is no substitute for watching a virtuoso performer create a work of art.
Those of us attending the Louisville Orchestra’s season finale concert last
Friday were part of the creative process…something to be celebrated in the face
of destruction.
The concert, marketed under the moniker Pictures and Painters, began with Paul
Hindemith’s thinly veiled commentary on the mores of the then-emerging Nazi
party. Hindemith composed his three-movement symphony Mathis der Maler
(Matthais the Painter) in 1939. Themes for the orchestral work were drawn from
an opera the composer was developing based on the artistic and class struggles
of 16th century German Renaissance painter Matthias Grünwald. Music director
Jorge Mester continues to select works with plenty of opportunities for
musicians of the Orchestra to demonstrate their abilities. Principal Flutist
Kathy Karr’s interpretations in the first movement were a joy. Soon joined by
her long-time colleague Don Gottlieb on piccolo, the two introduced a cloud of
angels in the woodwinds and brass that circled above the stage – which, I am
convinced, is where the best of the Orchestra’s sound remains despite the determined
efforts of The Kentucky Center to make a multi-purpose stage do the work of a
first-rate concert hall.
Enter the artist, Paul Huang. The lithe
22-year-old violinist already projects an air of quiet confidence, without
arrogance. The opening theme of Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, Op. 14 is introduced immediately by the soloist
who emerges from the orchestra as a bird in flight might separate from the
flock. Huang’s clear tone and mastery of intonation allow him to add subtleties
to his performance that had me laughing out loud with the joy of it. The
composer opens the second movement with an extended oboe solo, wonderfully
performed by interim principal Jennifer Potochnic. Throughout the second
movement Huang seemed to be performing a duet with the orchestra, embodied by Maestro
Mester. And when it was over, absolute silence hung over Whitney Hall in anticipation
of Principal Timpanist James Rago’s introduction of the moto perpetuo created by the composer to allow the violinist to
demonstrate their virtuosity. What Huang provided was four minutes of the kind
of performance Paganini’s admirer’s walked miles to experience. The Louisville
audience was no less appreciative and called Huang and Mester back again and
again until the violinist offered an enraptured encore of Corigliano’s Red Violin Caprices. I was grateful for
the opportunity to enjoy the purity of tone manifested by a 1683 Nicolo Amati
violin in the hands of a gifted performer.
The Louisville Orchestra’s 75th season
concluded with Ravel’s orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Once again
the musicians of the Louisville Orchestra were given the chance to show off
their abilities. It was a nearly universal success led by Principal Trumpet J.
Jerome Amend intoning the famous Promenade
theme. My personal favorite movement is The
Old Castle, especially when it is performed by someone as talented as
interim English Hornist Alex Winter.
The Louisville Orchestra will be on hiatus this
summer, preparing for Fanfara on
September 7 featuring pianist Emanuel Ax. The Fanfara program is scheduled to include Dvoràk’s Carnival Overture and piano concerti by
Mozart and Beethoven. Candidly, there is a lot riding on the 2013-14 season.
The musicians, management, the board, corporate sponsors and individual donors
have stepped up to give this city the opportunity to continue to have live
orchestral music. The question that remains to be answered is, Do we as a
community want this gift? The next few months may give us the answer. Season
tickets are available at 502.587.8681, 502.584.7777 and on-line at LouisvilleOrchestra.org.
Let’s put our money where our arts are!
Classics: Pictures and Painters
April 25, 2013 at 10:30 a.m.
April 26, 2013 at 8:00 p.m.
Louisville Orchestra
The Kentucky Center for the Arts
Whitney Hall
501 West Main Street
Louisville, KY 40202
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