SYMPHONY REVIEW
Symphony opens season with elegance
By Gregory Shepherd
Advertiser Classical Music Critic
The Honolulu Symphony's new season got off to an elegant start Friday night with fine playing by both the orchestra and guest violinist Hilary Hahn.
Photo courtesy of Honolulu Symphony
Although only 22-years-old, Hahn's playing has an assurance and maturity that belies her age. Her flawless work on both the Bach Violin Concerto No. 2 in E major as well as her collaboration with concertmaster Ignace Jang on the Concerto for Two Violins in D minor underscored her world-famous talents, but perhaps not enough.
Hilary Hahn showcased her dynamic style of playing with the Honolulu Symphony in the season opener Friday at the Blaisdell Concert Hall.
While almost anything written by J.S. Bach is nothing short of inspired on a musical level, the technical demands he makes of the soloist derive from 18th-century performance practice. And in the case of the solo concerto, Hahn's phenomenal, all-encompassing technique was showcased only scarcely. Her rich tone and effortless fluidity on fast passages were a delight, but one longed for something with a bit more blood and guts, like the Dvorak concerto for the instrument.
Accompanied by an 18-piece string orchestra and harpsichord, the delicate solo part wended its contrapuntal way through long, involved melodic passages, and these Hahn handled with real expertise. Hers is a dynamic style of playing that lends itself well to a concerto that can easily sound thin and insubstantial in the wrong hands.
But again, it made one wonder what magic she would have woven with something in the Romantic repertory.
• When: 4 p.m. today • Where: Blaisdell Concert Hall • Admission: $15-$57 • Information: 591-2211 (Blaisdell box office)
Hahn and Jang worked seamlessly together on the Double Concerto, although the first movement was taken at such a breakneck pace that it seemed in danger of jumping the tracks. The third movement had more of a sense of control and the ear could more easily pick out the contrapuntal relationships between the two solo parts.
Hilary Hahn
With the Honolulu Symphony
Perhaps starting the season with two Bach violin concertos back to back wasn't such a good idea, after all. A first-time symphony-goer sitting nearby turned to the person next to him at the beginning of the double concerto and asked, in all innocence, "Didn't they just play this?"
Brahms' Symphony No. 1 in C minor fit the occasion much more logically. Sweeping in scope and exploring a dizzying range of emotions, it took the listener from the depths of musical despair to sonic heaven.
Conductor Samuel Wong milked every drop of romanticism from the piece and the effect was ineffably moving, especially in the finale.
The first movement opened with a balefully intoned minor-key passage over relentlessly pounding timpani that soon gave way to a more agitated allegro section, setting the ear up for some kind of release later on.
Brahms' orchestration was once criticized for its relative darkness, but that quality works to his advantage in this movement and Wong somehow managed to allow some light to shine through. Scott Janusch's oboe solo offered just the right amount of pathos for the movement.
The second movement Andante features both an oboe and clarinet solo and Janusch's and Scott Anderson's contributions were sensitive and highly musical. The most dramatic moments of the performance came in the fourth movement when Wong had the slow, quiet pizzicato passages in the strings played as if the music were creeping around on tiptoes. This was the perfect dramatic setup for the entrance of the trombones which are heard for the first time in this final section.
Few symphonic finales are as stirring and satisfying as that of this work, and here, at last on Friday, was a piece that matched the auspicious mood of a season opener.
