Hartford Symphony, Hartford, CT
March 10–13, 2016
by Michael J. Moran
The two “Russian masters” whose music was played on this
“Masterworks Series” program were Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky. HSO Music Director
Carolyn Kuan had the canny programming idea to surround Tchaikovsky’s beloved
Violin Concerto with the two most acclaimed of Prokofiev’s seven symphonies,
which are still much less familiar than the Tchaikovsky Concerto to the average
concertgoer.
The concert opened with Prokofiev’s first symphony, which he
called the “Classical” to reflect his goal of writing a modern symphony in the
style of Haydn, who founded the symphony as a classical form in the late
eighteenth century. Except for some spiky 20th century harmonies (it dates from
1917), it could have been written a century earlier. A reduced-size HSO gave
the four short movements (totaling 15 minutes) a lithe and buoyant
performance.
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| Simone Porter |
The evening’s star was 18-year-old violinist Simone Porter,
who gave a dazzling account of Tchaikovsky’s concerto. Her youth and modest
physique belied the power, maturity, and technical finesse of her playing. She
tore into the faster rhythms of the opening Allegro and the finale’s
Cossack-style dance with full-bodied passion, but brought a hushed delicacy to
the haunting slow movement melody that famously made Leo Tolstoy cry on first
hearing it. The orchestra was with her all the way under Kuan’s watchful
leadership, which kept the many passages of dialogue between soloist and
ensemble in clear balance.
But for emotional intensity and sonic splendor, the
commanding account of Prokofiev’s fifth symphony that followed intermission was
the evening’s musical highlight. Written at the height of World War II as a
celebration of the human spirit, it featured the program’s largest and most
colorful orchestra. From the huge climax of the opening Andante, through the
fleet, motoric scherzo, the dark, brooding Adagio, to the exuberant Finale, the
playing was forceful and riveting.
The musical bond between conductor and ensemble seems only
to have been strengthened by the recent resolution of the HSO’s labor dispute,
to the evident satisfaction not only of the large audience in the Bushnell’s
Belding Theater, but of the Maestra herself, who personally thanked patrons for
their support as they left the hall.
