Last night's presentation by the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra was truly dazzling. The guest conductor was one of five candidates being considered to take the permanent position. Fusao Kajima was animated and very entertaining in his direction of the concert. And his candidacy was certainly not hindered by the aid of an extraordinarily talented pianist Valentina Lisitsa (yes the same one who was on The Tonight Show just a few nights ago).
Kajima first led the ASO in performing Sinfonietta No. 1 by Heitor Villa-Lobos (subtitled In Memory of Mozart). The program notes share this insight from Villa-Lobos about the two themes incorporated from Mozart: ...the overall purpose in composing the work was to "describe the conflict between culture, represented by the scholastic prejudices and rules, and the temperament of the free, spontaneous artist, independent from any theory."
The highlight of the night was Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16. This concerto is reckoned as the Norwegian's "only outstanding large-scale creation;" it is in a sense, his life's work since he began it in 1868 and revised it multiple times before it reached its present form shortly before his death in 1907. Valentina Lisitsa not only brought amazing talent to the performance, she also, like Kajima, brought a winsome energy and passion. In my experience with ASO performances, it is not particularly common for the standing ovation to demand and receive an encore, but Lisitsa playfully consented.
Kajima first led the ASO in performing Sinfonietta No. 1 by Heitor Villa-Lobos (subtitled In Memory of Mozart). The program notes share this insight from Villa-Lobos about the two themes incorporated from Mozart: ...the overall purpose in composing the work was to "describe the conflict between culture, represented by the scholastic prejudices and rules, and the temperament of the free, spontaneous artist, independent from any theory."
The highlight of the night was Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16. This concerto is reckoned as the Norwegian's "only outstanding large-scale creation;" it is in a sense, his life's work since he began it in 1868 and revised it multiple times before it reached its present form shortly before his death in 1907. Valentina Lisitsa not only brought amazing talent to the performance, she also, like Kajima, brought a winsome energy and passion. In my experience with ASO performances, it is not particularly common for the standing ovation to demand and receive an encore, but Lisitsa playfully consented.
Kajima then directed the concluding performance of Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88. Following the music of Villa-Lobos and Grieg, the beautiful symphony of Dvorak exhausted me with enjoyment! The program notes at THIS LINK provide an excellent description. I was most impressed by the presence of Ed Owen on the tuba in the last piece, because he was unused and therefore absent from the stage in the first two pieces (I began to fear it would be a completely tuba-less night)!
Here is more about the candidate conductors: CLICK HERE.
Here is the official webiste of Valentina Lisitsa: CLICK HERE.
No comments:
Post a Comment