Hartford Symphony, Hartford, CT
October 7–9, 2016
by Michael J. Moran
The HSO web site describes the opening weekend program of
their 73rd season as presenting “music with global flair.” Hearing Spanish and
Arabian-flavored music by Russian and Spanish composers performed by musicians
from Taiwan and Croatia, it was hard to disagree. The traditional
season-launching “Star-Spangled Banner” only reinforced this international
theme.
Beginning her sixth season as HSO Music Director, Carolyn
Kuan followed the anthem with a splashy account of Rimsky-Korsakov’s colorful
orchestral showpiece “Capriccio Espagnol.” In five short movements based on
Spanish dance rhythms, the 15-minute piece features several passages for solo
violin, which concertmaster Leonid Sigal dispatched with his usual flair. All
the musicians played with brio, particularly the expanded percussion section,
including castanets.
A smaller HSO took the stage for a sensuous rendition of
Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez” for guitar and orchestra. Written
when the composer returned to Spain in 1939 from Paris after the Spanish Civil
War, it evokes the summer palace of the traditional Spanish court in the small
town of Aranjuez. Making her HSO debut, 35-year-old Croatian guitarist Ana
Vidovic first played the guitar in public at age 7, and her comfort level with
it was exceeded only by her virtuosity in the two lively outer movements and
sensitivity in the rapturous central Adagio. The orchestra and Kuan provided
glowing support.
Vidovic then showed off a dazzling tremolo technique in her
serene solo encore performance of Francisco Tarrega’s “Memories of the
Alhambra,” recalling a more familiar Spanish palace.
A dramatic reading of Rimsky-Korsakov’s magical
“Scheherazade” brought the program to a thrilling close. Each of the four
movements of this “symphonic suite” depicts one or more of the tales told by
Scheherazade, wife of legendary sultan Shakriar, to keep him from executing her
because he believed all women were faithless (she succeeded after 1,001
nights). Scheherazade herself is represented by the solo violin, again
elegantly voiced by Sigal. Kuan’s leadership was taut yet flexible, as she kept
the flow of changing tempos within movements, especially the challenging “Story
of the Kalendar Prince,” in exemplary balance. All sections of the vast orchestra played with ardor and finesse.
