CONCERT REVIEW Series' season debut shows orchestral unity
By SALLY VALLONGO
BLADE STAFF WRITER
The Toledo Symphony and Stefan Sanderling kicked off the 2007-2008 Classics concert season last night in a blaze of artistic glory.
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svallongo@theblade.com.
These musicians - including guest cello soloist Julie Albers - clearly came to play music.
From the brisk drum roll leading into the national anthem to the final, succinct chords of Mahler's first symphony, this orchestral team turned in a triumphant performance.
The evening offered an Aha! moment for fans who have watched steady improvement in artistry in the last few years. It was as if all those incremental steps had accumulated and suddenly accelerated the group to a new and higher performance level.
What emerged from the stage was a sense of orchestral unity, of a more defined musical identity based on expanded mastery and confidence. Last night's performance showed that Sanderling, in his fourth year as principal conductor, now knows this orchestra well, and he displayed a greater sense of ease in his podium presence.
The Agatha Overture by David Rogers opened the program with verve. Rogers, artistic administrator of the Florida Symphony where Sanderling is music director, wrote it as an adjunct to Der Freischutz, the 19th-century opera by Carl Maria von Weber. It was too short, a tantalizing three minutes with the fizz and tartness of a lime spritzer.
As performed by cellist Albers and a reduced orchestra, Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme was a show-stopper, and several cadenzas revealed the guest's musical maturity. Producing a warm, rich sound on her 1872 Vuillaume cello, Albers danced through the variations, her technique equal to any challenge.
As an encore treat, Albers plunged into Tchaikovsky's Pezzo Capriccioso, a darker-toned work that further revealed the cellist's capabilities as both soloist and ensemble player.
Still, it was the Mahler - Symphony No. 1 in D Major - which proved to be the concert's benchmark. Opening softly on a single note - A - repeated over seven octaves, the first movement became a pastoral fantasy of bird calls, trumpet salutes, and snippets of Mahlerian melody.
Sanderling held the orchestra in check, giving inner voices plenty of room, building slowly toward and away from dynamic peaks and valleys. The second movement opened like a mighty machine starting up and closed with energy and drama. The contrast of the third movement, with references to folk music and dance, was a masterful setup for the stormy final movement.
The concert will repeat at 8 tonight in the Peristyle.
An Artists Up Close event with Julie Albers and symphony players is set for 3 p.m. Sunday on the Peristyle stage. For ticket information, contact the Toledo Symphony at 419-246-8000 or www.toledosymphony.com.