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| From Lamsma's Facebook page |
Sounding bolder and louder, the Oregon Symphony unleashed a triple whammy of a concert with superb performances of works by Bruch, Bartok, and Perry at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall (April 20). Music Director David Danzmayr seems to be finding his groove with the orchestra, forging a distinct sonic style that is creating exhilarating results – especially when sharing the stage with a virtuosic guest artist like Simone Lamsma.
Lamsma, the phenomenal Dutch violinist who completed her third year and final year as an Artist-in-Residence with the orchestra, delivered a sublime performance of Bruch’s Violin Concerto No 1. Her impeccable technique elicited a lovely, rich tone throughout the piece. You could hear it right away, when the orchestra opened with deliciously murky fog of chords, and Lamsma’s violin emerged from it with a strong, silken voice. She expressed tender and sweet melodies with great sensitivity yet never overly sentimental, and her articulation in the fleetest of passages was stunningly immaculate. Wrapping it all up with the sweeping crescendo in the finale, the beauty of Lamsma’s playing brought the audience to its feet with loud and sustained applause.
To top everything off, Lamsma gave a jaw-dropping rendition of the last movement of Hindemith’s Sonata for solo violin, op. 11 No. 6. Besides being a devilishly tricky piece, if you were to pay her one dollar for every note that she played, it would empty most people’s bank accounts. Lamsma fearlessly tore into the piece and brought down the house a second time.
Danzmayr’s animated and passionate conducting ignited an outstanding performance of Bartók’s “Concerto for Orchestra.” The orchestra responded to his gestures with an impressive dynamic range, expressing each phrase with uncanny articulation. The jokey melodic line that passed through pairs of woodwinds and ended with menacing, muted trumpets while the violins and harps shimmered and swirled highlighted the second movement. The lush string sound in the fourth alternated deliciously with the circus-like passages, and the fifth movement sparkled with the strings generating a perpetual motion, the brass issuing a folksy, barn-dance-like motif, and the brief fugues in which phrases were exchanged.
Each section of the orchestra had multiple moments in the spotlight, and they made the most of it. Danzmayr got so caught up in the music-making that he voiced a couple of really odd groans while urging a couple of the huge crescendos. Nevertheless, this performance of the “Concerto for Orchestra” was a thrilling ride from beginning to end, and capped off the evening in a dramatic fashion.
The concert began with Julia Perry’s “A Short Piece for Orchestra,” which offered a lot of sonic delights in the space of a few minutes. After opening with a fanfare, the piece settled into a sequence of isolated, forlorn sounds that transitioned into an agitated, strident passage before subsiding to quieter mood. From a throbbing line in the double basses, a phrase was passed through the strings and to other sections of the orchestra, gathering steam along the way, until the entire ensemble was going full-blast into a quick finale. That piqued my interest to hear more of Perry’s works in the near future.
After talking with some friends, we all agreed that the orchestra under Danzmayr is playing with more volume. That, in turn, creates more opportunities for larger dynamic contrasts. Ergo, in my opinion, the OSO concerts are becoming even more exciting to hear…
Lamsma, the phenomenal Dutch violinist who completed her third year and final year as an Artist-in-Residence with the orchestra, delivered a sublime performance of Bruch’s Violin Concerto No 1. Her impeccable technique elicited a lovely, rich tone throughout the piece. You could hear it right away, when the orchestra opened with deliciously murky fog of chords, and Lamsma’s violin emerged from it with a strong, silken voice. She expressed tender and sweet melodies with great sensitivity yet never overly sentimental, and her articulation in the fleetest of passages was stunningly immaculate. Wrapping it all up with the sweeping crescendo in the finale, the beauty of Lamsma’s playing brought the audience to its feet with loud and sustained applause.
To top everything off, Lamsma gave a jaw-dropping rendition of the last movement of Hindemith’s Sonata for solo violin, op. 11 No. 6. Besides being a devilishly tricky piece, if you were to pay her one dollar for every note that she played, it would empty most people’s bank accounts. Lamsma fearlessly tore into the piece and brought down the house a second time.
Danzmayr’s animated and passionate conducting ignited an outstanding performance of Bartók’s “Concerto for Orchestra.” The orchestra responded to his gestures with an impressive dynamic range, expressing each phrase with uncanny articulation. The jokey melodic line that passed through pairs of woodwinds and ended with menacing, muted trumpets while the violins and harps shimmered and swirled highlighted the second movement. The lush string sound in the fourth alternated deliciously with the circus-like passages, and the fifth movement sparkled with the strings generating a perpetual motion, the brass issuing a folksy, barn-dance-like motif, and the brief fugues in which phrases were exchanged.
Each section of the orchestra had multiple moments in the spotlight, and they made the most of it. Danzmayr got so caught up in the music-making that he voiced a couple of really odd groans while urging a couple of the huge crescendos. Nevertheless, this performance of the “Concerto for Orchestra” was a thrilling ride from beginning to end, and capped off the evening in a dramatic fashion.
The concert began with Julia Perry’s “A Short Piece for Orchestra,” which offered a lot of sonic delights in the space of a few minutes. After opening with a fanfare, the piece settled into a sequence of isolated, forlorn sounds that transitioned into an agitated, strident passage before subsiding to quieter mood. From a throbbing line in the double basses, a phrase was passed through the strings and to other sections of the orchestra, gathering steam along the way, until the entire ensemble was going full-blast into a quick finale. That piqued my interest to hear more of Perry’s works in the near future.
After talking with some friends, we all agreed that the orchestra under Danzmayr is playing with more volume. That, in turn, creates more opportunities for larger dynamic contrasts. Ergo, in my opinion, the OSO concerts are becoming even more exciting to hear…
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