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ClassicsSeptember 15, 2006 at 6:42 AM The finals of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis got started yesterday with a trio of concerti by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (well, a duo of Mozart concerti, but one was played twice), followed today by another pair of Mozart concerti and one by Joseph Haydn.Simone Lamsma of the Netherlands started the finals with Mozart's Turkish Concerto. Her playing was both technically solid and, to some extent, frozen solid. I thought a lot of warmth was lost in a cold sound that almost sounded calculated at some points. A performance with her technical ability and a less wintry tone would have been very much appreciated. Korea's Yura Lee followed with another performance of the same concerto. While it may have been not as clean as Lamsma by just the tiniest of margins, I enjoyed it immensely more, from the jovial first movement to the bright third. And she played with the orchestra, too! Blend in or stand out: Lee can do both exceptionally well. I read following Lee's performance that she won the Mozart International Violin Competition in May. "Well, that's not surprising at all," I thought to myself. What was surprising, however, was that I completely skipped over "Leopold" in the competition's title. Ye-Eun Choi, also of Korea, was next, and she played Mozart's Concerto No. 3. It was clear, precise, and extremely accurate. It's an overused cliché, but solid precision and a vast colour palette are so rarely found in the same musician. Thankfully, Choi has colour to go with her technical abilities; somewhat selfishly, though, and to my surprise, I still wanted more. I'm looking forward to hearing her performance of Shostakovich's Violin Concerto. The last time I heard it, it was excellent. Today's session opened with Bulgaria's Bella Hristova playing Haydn's Concerto No. 1. Despite floating rumours to the contrary, I don't hate Hristova. I don't hate her playing either, but I'd be lying if I said I liked it, too. I wasn't expecting much from this performance, but then again, music competition history has numerous examples of great performers making their name in competition finals. At first, my worst fears seemed to be justified. Hristova began with a very clunky sound that did not at all fit the mood of the piece, which repeated itself every time the first theme came back. A few instances of dubious intonation later, she proceeded to rush through the first movement cadenza faster than one could say "Simone Lamsma" ten times fast. (But now I'm critiquing Hristova's performance of a cadenza she wrote herself. I'll stop now.) I was glad to hear her tone improved during the first movement, though, and it gave way to a warm and endearing second movement. The third movement was just as spirited and lively. She had a few more noticeable issues with intonation in the middle of the third movement, though. I can understand that great violinists will have the occasional problem in that regard, but I've heard Hristova have more than her fair share of them at this competition. If fundamental points like pitch are dubious, any debate over tone, colour, or sound becomes moot. After the semifinals, I had Celeste Golden of the United States pencilled in as a competition medallist -- until now, that is. Golden played Mozart's Concerto No. 4, and there were two things to notice about her playing almost immediately. The first was that she started quite shakily; although she quickly regained control, it would be a foreshadowing of things to come. One could hear Golden's first movement cadenza coming apart very soon into it. One run was flat, the next was sharp, and then she completely flubbed a downward figure on two strings. To make matters worse, the pitches were so indistinct that she actually repeated one element in the series. The rest of the movement was a rushed scramble to recover from the glitch, both musically and mentally. The second very noticeable thing was that her sound, which had been, for the most part, crystal clear in the semifinals, had crossed the line from clear to acute. There's a fine line between cutting across the orchestra and piercing the orchestra, and Golden crossed it numerous times. I tired of the overdone razor-sharp sound very soon, and was not at all pleased to find it continuing into the second movement, where the occasional glimpse of warmth and beauty was lost in the knife-like precision. The last finalist was Augustin Hadelich of Germany, who played Mozart's Concerto No. 2. There was much to like about his performance. Hadelich brought to his music everything I expected out of Mozart; I particularly appreciated his touch, which was light, happy, and humorous. His self-written cadenzas were displays of stylistic brilliance. That performance is one tape I'm keeping. (I wanted to keep Lee's great performance too, but my computer decided it was going to stop taping yesterday due to lack of space without telling me. Audiotaping this competition has been nothing short of a total disaster.) By the way, I've been noticing someone's humming is somewhat audible on the radio, particularly noticeable during second movements. Apparently Glenn Gould is either in the audience, or conducting the orchestra, and I suspect the latter. Syndicated from theBlogject
From parmeeta bhogal
keep it up eugene. I look forward to your comments as much as the competition!
Posted on September 15, 2006 at 8:48 AM From Terez Mertes
Yes, great comments! Thanks!
Posted on September 15, 2006 at 3:40 PM From Samuel Thompson
Your comments have been fantastic - it's very interesting to hear someone talk about a competition as candidly as you do...as well as to know that everyone can have a shaky start.
Posted on September 17, 2006 at 5:29 AM This entry has been archived and is no longer accepting comments. |
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