Israeli maestro’s Houston Symphony debut marked with precision and lyricism.
Israeli maestro’s debut with Houston Symphony marked with precision and lyricism
An exuberant audience rewarded the Houston Symphony’s performance of Tchaikovsky’s popular 4th Symphony with a boisterous ovation Thursday night at Jones Hall. But it was the orchestra’s moving performance of Britten’s Violin Concerto with soloist Simone Lamsma that was the evening’s highlight.
It’s also notable how this orchestra responds to a conductor other than its music director, the beloved Andrés Orozco-Estrada, as Israeli maestro Omer Meir Wellber made his Symphony debut, opening with Mozart’s Overture and Ballet Music to the opera “Idomeneo.”
Wellber and the Symphony brought a welcome precision and lyricism to the music, the distinct voice of each orchestral section acting individually and together to make Mozart’s score “sing.”
With a piece by Benjamin Britten, there was a decidedly wider, modern tonal array on hand. Composed in 1939, with Britain on the brink of war with Nazi Germany, Britten’s Violin Concerto’s haunting beauty largely forgoes the standard concerto form, the soloist and orchestra engaging in a musical dialogue of statement and response. The solo violin instead is a single voice emerging from within the orchestral texture.
Dutch violinist Lamsma’s cogent performance was impressive in the vigorous 2nd movement, almost reminiscent of something Piazzolla would write, but spikier in the soloist’s line and more frantically driven throughout. Lamsma’s cadenza in this movement was remarkable for the blanched high notes and the technical challenge of bowing and plucking simultaneously.
The best was saved for the last movement, as the reassuring profundity of the low brass gives way to a softly disquieting solo violin line. Lamsma’s playing here, poignant and sweet, ultimately ends in a trill, faltering between two notes in the face of the world’s uncertain future.
From the bright, opening statement in the horns, Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony promised to explore and exploit every possible combination in the orchestra. The brass in particular took numerous opportunities to shine.
In the 2nd movement, it was the woodwinds’ turn with filigreed runs up and down the scale above the melody in the strings, and the string ensembles’ pizzicato work in the 3rd movement was remarkable. Wellber’s podium presence was particularly evident here, his loose-limbed demeanor communicating an infectious light-heartedness to orchestra and audience alike.
Finally, Maestro Wellber launched a bold, energetic 4th movement, setting an aggressive tempo, which at moments challenged the ensemble to keep up. Nonetheless, Wellber, the Symphony and Tchaikovsky brought the piece and the concert to a resoundingly crowd-pleasing close.