The Week in Reviews, Op. 185: Steven Copes, Jennifer Koh, Christian Tetzlaff
In an effort to promote the coverage of live violin performance, Violinist.com each week presents links to reviews of notable concerts and recitals around the world.
Steven Copes premiered the Pierre Jalbert Violin Concerto with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.
- Star Tribune: "SPCO concertmaster Steven Copes played the jagged, hyperactive solo part with biting attack and a superfine sense of tuning."
- Pioneer Press: "By turns haunting and menacing in the early going, the two-movement concerto became an absorbing meditation on which Copes’ lines grew more agitated, the orchestra summoning up dark drama."
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra Concertmaster Steven Copes.
Jennifer Koh performed Iyer's "Trouble" at the Ojai Music Festival.
- Los Angeles Times: "The show belongs to Koh, whether playing soulful melody, making the raspy scraping sound of strings into poetry, or just tossing off plain, fabulous old-fashioned virtuosity."
- The San Diego Union-Tribune: "A thrilling showcase for Jennifer Koh, who has performed other pieces by Iyer in the past, 'Trouble' takes its title from the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s."
Christian Tetzlaff performed the Sibelius with the MET Orchestra.
- New York Classical Review: "...soloist Christian Tetzlaff, in a spellbinding reading with conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, showed a different interpretive side than he has in previous, more introspective appearances."
- The New York Times: "Mr. Tetzlaff, who always plays with pure and incisive tone, also showed a volatile temperament that surprised even a longtime admirer, and Mr. Salonen only encouraged his intrepid explorations."
Pekka Kuusisto performed the Mendelssohn with the Seattle Symphony.
- The Seattle Times: "After bewitching the Seattle Symphony audience with the subtlest and most lyrical Mendelssohn Violin Concerto this listener has ever heard, soloist Pekka Kuusisto...announced that he would perform 'a traditional song from back home,' and proceeded to sing a catchy tune while playing arpeggiated passages on his violin."
Joshua Brown performed Mozart's Rondo for Violin and Orchestra with the North Shore Chamber Music Festival.
- Chicago Classical Review: "...his lithe playing betrays a musical maturity beyond his 17 years. A student of Almita and Roland Vamos, the young man played with great poise and a silken tone on his 1679 Guarneri (which he possesses as the youngest recipient of an instrument from the Stradivari Society of Chicago), and is clearly someone to watch in years to come."
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Daniel, are the SPCO concerts still broadcast?
Concerts of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra are still broadcast and now are streamed live online as well. Also, the SPCO maintains a new Concert Library of past performances available online at thespco.org/music (You need cut and paste the URL. It doesn't work as a hotlink from here.)
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June 13, 2017 at 06:33 AM · I heard Steven Copes perform Pierre Jalbert's Violin Concerto at the Friday morning concert. He played with every nuance and all the brilliance that Jalbert demands, then even more. I've been lucky enough to hear this guy play most of the season!
I just hope they made a recording of this concerto.
This program was the season finale for the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. The concert opened with Mendelssohn's "Fair Melusina" Overture and concluded with Beethoven's Symphony No. 7.