The second half of Nodoka Okisawa\u2019s debut concert with the Philharmonia gave us the freshest most thoughtful account of Brahms Symphony No 1 I\u2019ve heard in a long time. She has a neatly confident conducting style and is, evidently full of ideas.<\/p>\n
This performance gave us, for example, crystal clear pizzicato in the opening movement (and later in the symphony), a superbly evocative oboe solo in the andante and leader Zsolt-Tihamer Visontay\u2019s solo at the end of the andante was beautiful especially in the final arpeggio \u2013 dying away into the silence. Moreover, very much her own woman, she took the fourth movement unusually slowly and milked the emotional \u201cBrahmsian\u201d moments, especially the horn solo, for all they were worth \u2013 and that\u2019s not fashionable. Okisawa is very good at judging pauses and balancing lightness with lush legato. All in all this 1868 symphony was made to sound newly minted \u2013 155 years after its premiere and that\u2019s quite an achievement.<\/p>\n
Visontay, incidentally, is a fascinating player and leader to watch. He is too tall to fold easily into his chair and he dances continually with his feet (clad on this occasion in very shiny shoes) which often leave the ground as the musical drama soars. And his rapport with the orchestra is warmly palpable.<\/p>\n
Before the interval Michael Collins seduced the audience with a spirited account of Weber\u2019s clarinet concerto \u2013 lots of creamy F minor. Collins, every inch a chamber musician, constantly turned to conductor or leader reminding me that it\u2019s actually quite unnatural to play a concerto facing the audience with your back to the people you\u2019re working with. He found oodles of lyrical beauty in the Mozartian middle movement, especially in the duet with the horn, and I enjoyed the merry insouciance he brought to the very familiar Rondo: Allegretto.<\/p>\n
The concert opened with a relatively subdued performance of Weber\u2019s Overture, Der Frieschutz. It took the orchestra, working with a conductor who is new to it, a few moments to settle and there were one or two ragged entries but from then on this concert was both interesting and arresting.<\/p>\n
Susan Elkin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The second half of Nodoka Okisawa\u2019s debut concert with the Philharmonia gave us the freshest most thoughtful account of Brahms Symphony No 1 I\u2019ve heard in a long time. She has a neatly confident conducting style and is, evidently full … Continue reading