Armenian violinist, 21, dazzles crowd in S.F.
Mar. 14, 2006
San Jose Mercury News
By Richard Scheinin
A kid named Khachatryan played music by Khachaturian in San Francisco on Sunday. Sergey Khachatryan, a 21-year-old violinist from Armenia, was making his local debut; he played like a poet, with a subtle and commanding mix of confidence, sensitivity and craft.
This charismatic newcomer was performing with the venerable London Philharmonic Orchestra, which made the event extra-special. [...]. Scheduled conductor Kurt Masur, [...], sent along a protege as his substitute: Brazilian conductor Roberto Minczuk stepped up and did a superb job with Khachaturian's Violin Concerto and Mahler's Symphony No. 1.
[...]
The concerto by Khachaturian, a father of Armenian "nationalist'' music in the last century, is spiced with folkloric rhythms, themes and inflections. It also is sensuous, a little bit schmaltzy, and sheerly, at times eerily, beautiful. From the opening bars, the orchestra sounded exceptionally luminous -- those strings!
And then came the soloist: crisp attack, warm singing tone, spot-on intonation. He is slender, with a thatch of curly black hair, and he isn't a showman; he is about clarity and control and expression.
His cadenza in the first movement was cleanly delivered -- all those keening, up-sliding double-stops -- and emotionally full-blooded, without knocking you on the head. As it ended, with the orchestra sliding back in behind Khachatryan, a comfortable "duet'' was going on between the soloist and his famous accompanists from London.
[...]
The audience brought him back for several bows and, finally, Khachatryan offered an encore. [...].
[...]
Poor Mahler. He played second fiddle to the young violinist on Sunday. [...].
[...]
The orchestra summoned entire storm systems of sound: crashing cymbals, tolling timpani, screeching strings and great brass pronouncements, with all eight horn players on their feet as Heaven's Gates, figuratively, opened.
Even so, Khachatryan was the show.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
San Jose Mercury News
By Richard Scheinin
A kid named Khachatryan played music by Khachaturian in San Francisco on Sunday. Sergey Khachatryan, a 21-year-old violinist from Armenia, was making his local debut; he played like a poet, with a subtle and commanding mix of confidence, sensitivity and craft.
This charismatic newcomer was performing with the venerable London Philharmonic Orchestra, which made the event extra-special. [...]. Scheduled conductor Kurt Masur, [...], sent along a protege as his substitute: Brazilian conductor Roberto Minczuk stepped up and did a superb job with Khachaturian's Violin Concerto and Mahler's Symphony No. 1.
[...]
The concerto by Khachaturian, a father of Armenian "nationalist'' music in the last century, is spiced with folkloric rhythms, themes and inflections. It also is sensuous, a little bit schmaltzy, and sheerly, at times eerily, beautiful. From the opening bars, the orchestra sounded exceptionally luminous -- those strings!
And then came the soloist: crisp attack, warm singing tone, spot-on intonation. He is slender, with a thatch of curly black hair, and he isn't a showman; he is about clarity and control and expression.
His cadenza in the first movement was cleanly delivered -- all those keening, up-sliding double-stops -- and emotionally full-blooded, without knocking you on the head. As it ended, with the orchestra sliding back in behind Khachatryan, a comfortable "duet'' was going on between the soloist and his famous accompanists from London.
[...]
The audience brought him back for several bows and, finally, Khachatryan offered an encore. [...].
[...]
Poor Mahler. He played second fiddle to the young violinist on Sunday. [...].
[...]
The orchestra summoned entire storm systems of sound: crashing cymbals, tolling timpani, screeching strings and great brass pronouncements, with all eight horn players on their feet as Heaven's Gates, figuratively, opened.
Even so, Khachatryan was the show.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 7:31 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home