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| Pinchas Zuckerman and Gerard Schwarz - Photo by Paul Quackenbush |
Legendary violinist Pinchas Zuckerman headlined the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s concert on the second night of the festival (August 8), delivering an outstanding performance of Max Bruch’s “Violin Concert No. 1 in g minor.” But Zuckerman did under a bit of duress, because the flight that was scheduled to bring him to the Pacific Northwest on the day before was canceled. So, he caught a planee that brought him to Vancouver on the afternoon of the performance. Consequently, the orchestra, under guest conductor Gerard Schwarz, who was the music director of the Seattle Symphony for many years, went on stage that evening without the benefit of a rehearsal.
No matter! Zuckerman, playing from memory, sailed through the concerto as if he had played it a million times. Well, in Zuckerman’s case, he has played the Bruch countless times and knows it like the back of his hand. Yet, he has a way to make it sound fresh and appealing so that the lyrical passages came across smooth as silk, the many runs had vigor and sounded clear and crisp. He made his instrument sing, and it the result was just as spectacular as anyone could image.
Guided by Schwarz, the orchestra supported Zuckerman superbly. With Zuckerman in the spotlight, the concerto resonated with the audience, which followed along with rapt attention and, after the finale, responded to the performance with a standing ovation that was loud and long.
Zuckerman played an encore, the “Berceuse Sfaradite” by Paul Ben-Haim. He perfectly expressed its lullaby-like style, ending it wistfully with a very high note that faded into the summer night air. That resulted in another sustained standing ovation.
For the second half of the concert, Schwarz led the orchestra in a fine performance of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.” The weather was a bit windier than the previous night and that might have contributed to a couple of exposed notes to go awry in the orchestra. But on the whole, the musical forces, urged on by Schwarz, played with verve. Because there were no program notes, supertitles for the movements (10 in all) would have been helpful. Of course, concertgoers could consult their phones to get the lowdown on the music if they had wished, since there’s plenty of information available on the internet.
With the orchestra going full tilt to convey the majestic Great Gate of Kiev in the final movement, the concert ended on a high note, resulting in a standing ovation, So everyone home went home in high spirits.
VAMF continued the next evening with Gerard Schwarz conducting and his son Julian Schwarz playing Arthur Foote’s “Cello Concerto” and George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” with pianist Shelly Berg.
