March 24, 2018
The inimitable violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, doing double duty as guest soloist and leader of the San Antonio Symphony, crafted an engrossing, surprisingly contemporary account of Antonio Vivaldi’s familiar The Four Seasons on Friday at the Tobin Center. Nicely balancing that baroque staple was Rodion Shchedrin’s witty modernist recomposition of music from Georges Bizet’s Carmen (and other works).
The orchestra’s winds had the night off, but one of them, principal oboe Paul Lueders, opened the week with a splendid recital in collaboration with the terrific pianist Viktor Valkov.
Ms. Salerno-Sonnenberg’s fearless (and limitless) technique, her focused tone and her capacity to take ownership of everything she plays have made her a major draw as a violin virtuoso for more than three decades. This concert demonstrated that she also has serious chops as a conductor. She was credited as “leader,” meaning she cued the orchestra from her standing position as soloist in the Vivaldi and from her seat at the first desk of violins in the Shchedrin, but the term “leader” does not usually imply the interpretive moxie she brought to the task.
Both the soloist and the orchestra – a reduced strings section of 22 plus harpsichord – conveyed the descriptive, picturesque qualities of The Four Seasons with uncommon vividness. In that sense, the performance was fully faithful to the baroque spirit of the music. The means, however, were often modern. As soloist, Ms. Salerno-Sonnenberg coaxed an astonishing variety of colors from her instrument, and she commanded some startling effects from the orchestra. In “Autumn," the third of the four concerti, orchestral portamenti suggested dreamy sleep, and Bartokian snap pizzicati in the celli and basses mimicked gunfire. Among the most satisfying moments were the quietest – ghostly, diaphanous pianissimos from both soloist and orchestra. And all the principal string players interacted beautifully with Ms. Salerno-Sonnenberg in their own solos.
Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite, a ballet score from 1967, uses Bizet’s music as raw material for a distinctly modern work, bristling with ironic wit and remapped rhythms. (The piece was previously heard locally on a Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio concert in 2014.) The instrumentation calls for strings (the full contingent) and five percussionists, but no winds. Much of the coloristic work is shifted to the well-stocked kitchen and reconceived in suitably bang-up terms. For principal percussion Riely Francis, this was practically a solo concerto, and he acquitted himself marvelously. So did Ms. Salerno-Sonnenberg, who directed a bold, high-intensity performance.
Paul Lueders, a native of Boston, was appointed principal oboe of the San Antonio Symphony during the 2014-15 season, soon after earning his master of music degree from the New England Conservatory. He’s proved to be one of the orchestra’s finest recent acquisitions, and a great asset for the Olmos Ensemble, as well. But it was Camerata San Antonio, not his usual stomping ground, that gave him a solo recital slot, March 18 in the University of the Incarnate Word concert hall. He was paired with powerhouse pianist Viktor Valkov, a Camerata regular. Happily, this well-curated program did not relegate the pianist to second fiddle, as it were.
The program was mostly French – or Frenchish, in the case of Yuri Povolotsky’s delightful French Sonata, “Exercise in the Spirit of Poulenc,” in its US premiere.
Povolotsky’s work opens with a charming, easy-going waltz. The second movement has a nervous, fragmented oboe line over a propulsive, motoric foundation in the piano. The third’s beautifully meandering melodic line suggests wistful remembrance. The final allegro is exuberant and fleet, but with a broad lyrical episode in the middle. It’s all very nicely made, and the performance was top-drawer.
The concert opened with short pieces by four rather obscure but evidently quite capable French composers of the 20th century. The pieces by Jacques Murgier and José Berghmans fit nicely in the lyrical French modern tradition; Robert Plantel’s Serenade was spikier and spicier, though still within the same tradition; Henri Barraud’s Romance was a lyrical essay in free tonality. The style calendar moved backwards to the late Romantic period with Philippe Gaubert’s Two Pieces – the first long-lined and rhapsodic, the second quick and showy but quite brief.
Nordic lands were represented by the most familiar composers on the program – Carl Nielsen’s Fantasy Pieces, full of fresh harmonies and wit; and Paul Hindemith’s neoclassical Oboe Sonata, more admirable than lovable.
It was back to France for the closer, Eugene Bozza’s highly engaging Fantaisie-Pastorale. Despite being marked “Lent,” or “slow,” the opening movement demands quick, elaborate filigree from the oboist, but always in a broadly lyrical context. The middle movement evokes sadness, and the finale is a brilliant tour-de-force, which Mr. Lueders tossed off with seeming ease.
Mike Greenberg
incident light
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Same old Four Seasons? No!
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SA Symphony, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg; Paul Lueders & Viktor Valkov
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, in white pants, applauds the San Antonio Symphony’s strings and percussion after Rodion Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite. Below: Paul Lueders and Viktor Valkov.