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CHAMBER ORCHESTRA REVIEW
February 25, 2005
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By Charles Barber
At the Guzik Foundation Award Winners' concert on
Friday evening, I may have been the only person
present who could speak six words of Russian.
Everyone else could speak six thousand. A full
house of Russian and Armenian music lovers came
to cheer their own. Applause was well-aimed, but
these young artists deserved a much wider
audience. From a saxophone virtuoso to a
violinist now signed by EMI, these players signal
that a very great tradition lives on.
The concert at the Legion of Honor's Florence Gould
Theatre was presented by Dan Levenstein and Chamber Music San
Francisco and sponsored through a foundation
created two years ago by Nahum Guzik, a Silicon
Valley entrepreneur. Its purpose? An annual
concerto competition, held in the Russian
Federation, designed to attract and reward
exceptional talent among the young musicians of
that nation. The result? Five of the finest
performed here with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra.
Arus Atshemian, just 22, opened the evening with
a vivacious performance of Haydn's piano concerto
in D, Hob. 18:11. She made a case for the strength
and innovation of this music. When called upon,
she offered ingenious gradations of dynamic and
articulate contrast. This was a modern Haydn,
urgent and pressing. A well-conceived cadenza
spoke to the unique means of this brilliant
composer. One flaw prevailed. The Moscow Chamber
Orchestra is a very small group — five firsts,
one bass and few in between — and they were
over-matched by the raw force of the piano.
Atshemian rolled over them like an SUV among
bicycles. Sonic imbalance led to distortions of
phrase that were surely unintended.
This was not a problem for alto saxophonist Airapet Arakelian, all of 13. He enjoys bewildering composure and self-assurance. His performance of the Glazunov concerto was near-flawless. Only an occasional sharping in upper registers (after being out for some measures) betrayed any technical problems. The rest was lyric, warm, very French and drawn from the clarinet end of his instrument's palette. Arakelian's cadenza was immaculate, and his transition to the dotted rhythms of the finale smooth and joyous, taut and laughing. Cellist Narek Akhnazarian gave an eloquent and fearless performance of Haydn's famous concerto in C major. It was, in some ways, gloriously old-fashioned. A young Piatigorsky would have been proud of such rhythms, such confident sound. His intonation was superb. The high altitudes of thumb-position posed no problems, and his spiccato was exceptionally articulate. Akhnazarian seems to have learned how to compensate for a slightly late-speaking C string, and the rapid-fire crossings between the C and G had tremendous energy and élan. His rubato was tasteful and balanced and rose unforced from the music. This cellist is 16. It has been more years than that since I have heard a performance as strong and right. The early Shostakovich piano concerto in C minor, with trumpet and strings, got off to a quizzical start. Andrei Gugnin, a veteran at 18, was not shy about speaking in the dialects of Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev, which are so clear at the outset. The orchestra did not respond in kind. Still (though not as badly) over-powered by the soloist, they seemed unable to react in conversation or in debate. To be sure, they had already been playing for two hours. Only with the brilliant interpolations of guest trumpeter John Pearson in the finale did Gugnin assert the control and drive which possessed him. Happiness was daubed with relief on his face when the concerto ended as excitingly as he had intended all along.
The strongest work of the evening was given by Alexander Sitkovetsky, 22, playing the Mendelssohn concerto in D minor. He made this work, often dismissed as insubstantial, worth our attention. He comes honorably to the role. At eight he was studying and performing with Lord Menuhin and, five years later, played this concerto with Menuhin conducting. His mentor seems to have animated in him the singing maturity and relaxed technique for which the young Menuhin was so justly celebrated. Sitkovetsky is the real thing — a natural artist, a lyric voice, an advocate. This was an immensely soulful performance, and its gypsy ancestors were standing by the fire, smiling. The event was conducted, with sympathy and understatement, by Constantine Orbelian.
(Charles Barber holds masters' and doctoral degrees in conducting from Stanford University, has served as assistant to Sir Charles Mackerras, and studied with Carlos Kleiber. He is author of the recently-published book, 'Lost in the Stars: The
Forgotten Musical Life of Alexander Siloti', published by Rowman and Littlefield.)
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Constantine Orbelian