8/14/2019 Nicolaj Znaider Press Clips 7-30-09

1/5

8/14/2019 Nicolaj Znaider Press Clips 7-30-09

2/5

8/14/2019 Nicolaj Znaider Press Clips 7-30-09

3/5

May 11 2009

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/432d8a7a-3e44-11de-9a6c-00144feabdc0.html

London Symphony Orchestra, Barbican, LondonBy Richard Fairman

The focus of the London Symphony Orchestras Artist Portrait this season is the highly skilled andinteresting young violinist Nikolaj Znaider. With a group of solo and orchestral programmes to fill, there istime to offer something out of the ordinary and Znaider has seized his opportunity with both hands.

Between them, he and Valery Gergiev, the LSOs principal conductor, had devised an imaginative start to

the series. Thursdays opening concert brought together three highly contrasted works from the middle ofthe 20th century, all written by migr composers who had crossed the Atlantic to take refuge in the US.

The centrepiece was Schoenbergs rarely heard Violin Concerto, which the LSO had never beforeperformed in concert. This is a tough, demanding work for everybody concerned (including the audience).The solo part is technically so challenging that the virtuoso violinist Jascha Heifetz sent it back toSchoenberg with a note saying that it would only be playable if the soloist grew a sixth finger.

From a distance it was difficult to tell how many fingers Znaider has, but the apparent ease with which hemastered the concertos unusual hand positions suggested he may even have grown a seventh. Purebeauty of sound and elegance of phrasing are not prerequisites for this score, but they dont half help. WithZnaider teasing expression out of every wispy phrase in the solo part and the LSO treading sensitivelyacross the strangely sparse and foreign landscape of Schoenbergs orchestration, this very reticent concertoat last started to yield up some of its secrets.

On either side Gergiev placed works by Russian composers who sound worlds apart. StravinskysSymphony in Three Movements, written in 1942-5, is music from the thick of the war and invariablyperformed as such. Gergievs way with it was steadier and darker than usual dourly impressive, though thecomposers own recording suggests he had a brighter and sharper classical cut in mind. In the lateromanticism of Rachmaninovs Symphonic Dances, Gergiev was again dark and brooding, but thisrepertoire is second nature to him and the LSO seems to have adapted to breathing the same headily exotic

air. An interesting and rewarding concert.

8/14/2019 Nicolaj Znaider Press Clips 7-30-09

4/5

8/14/2019 Nicolaj Znaider Press Clips 7-30-09

5/5

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Review: Violinist's nuanced bow delivers concerto

goldBy Mark KannyTRIBUNE-REVIEW CLASSICAL MUSIC CRITIC

Viennese styles were well contrasted at Friday night's Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concert at whichguest conductor Gianandrea Noseda showed once again his masterful versatility.

Noseda provided a spoken introduction to the first half, which he said was the hardest part of theconcert for him. It was fine. His Italian accent was charming, not unclear, and his content was both briefand specific.

The conductor's musical accent was more than unerring in the Viennese late romanticism that followed.Anton Webern's Passacaglia, his first published work, precedes his unique distillation of the 12-tonestyle of his teacher Arnold Schoenberg.

Noseda presented the Passacaglia with great insight - with the expected passion but also with keenharmonic sensitivity. He didn't go for a Richard Strauss lushness of sound, choosing instead moredistinct, clear textures than blended ones.

Erich Korngold's Violin Concerto was in the best of hands when Nikolaj Znaider played it to conclude thefirst half. This violinist has an exceptionally beautiful and wide expressive palate. He adds nuances ofvibrato to an uncommonly beautiful bow sound. In addition, the way he moves from note to note has atrue master's range of nuance.

Guest concertmaster Alex Kerr, formerly leader of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, contributed a fine soloin the Korngold finale.

The ripe romanticism of the music in the first half highlighted Noseda's classical orientation in FranzSchubert's Symphony No. 9 after intermission.

Schubert was the first composer to deal successfully with the intimidating example of Ludwig vanBeethoven's symphonies. Schubert must have floated out of his meeting with Beethoven in 1822,winning the older composer's approval. Beethoven's Seventh Symphony is a clear influence on theSchubert Ninth.

Noseda led a rapid performance of Schubert's symphonic masterpiece. It wasn't only that his tempiwere swift. He also eschewed many traditional rhetorical gestures, such as slowing down at the end ofthe first movement, when the string choir gives out the opening theme for the last time.

Most conductors slow down for rhetorical emphasis, but Noseda pushed forward.

Noseda mainly played Schubert's Ninth the way it is written. The triple fortes didn't stand out enough,but he brought out many details neglected in traditional performances.

Gustav Mahler, a great conductor as well as composer, once said "Tradition is slovenly." ArturoToscanini said, "Tradition is the last bad performance."

Last night, the music making was freshly conceived at Heinz Hall.