The SSO was joined this week by the Music Director of the Tallahassee (Florida) Symphony Orchestra, David Hoose (left). The theme of nature marked the orchestral pieces programmed - the Beethoven Sixth Symphony, and the Helios Overture by Carl Nielsen. Helios is the Greek god of the sun.

Unfortunately this week the orchestra was a bit off the mark in the overture. It started a bit shaky, with muffled horns, and only gained its composure after the third minute or so. Although generally the brass was better managed, the returning theme that started the overture was met with the same muffled sound from the horns. For a horn player, his greatest nightmare is to hear a scruffy sound as he tries his very best to produce the tone he wants. Tonight, unfortunately, the efforts fell slightly short as the sustained notes in the initial entry were coarse and rather muffled, and lacked imagination of interpretation. While the string section was polished and responded attentively to the guest conductor, there was a certain blandness in the orchestral playing. The piece ended in a climax with a deep continuous bow stroke from the cellos and double basses which was coming on effectively until this was marred by an irresponsible member of the crowd who in his fit of enthusiasm gave off a loud single clap, destroying the pinnacle of one's concentration, and disrupting the resolution of the tension of the whole piece.

The soloist in the Bruch Violin Concerto was the young Danish violinst Nikolaj Znaider (right). I have recently come to notice that you know you are in for a great treat when, as the soloist comes through the door the whole string section starts 'clapping' with their bows on their music stands. This undoubtedly shows their respect for the soloist. This was very evident with performers in the past like Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Akiko Suwanai and Yo Yo Ma. Indeed, Nikolaj Znaider comes with a string of accolades including two of the violinist world's most coveted prizes, the First Prize at the 1997 Queen Elisabeth Competition and the First Prize at the 1992 Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition. I am personally making a prediction that it will be a matter of time before a big label asks him to sign a recording contract. Never have I been so excited to have the chance to hear a violinist since I last saw Lin Cho Liang play Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the SSO about fifteen years ago. Both Znaider and Lin (now known as "Jimmy") graduated from the Julliard School of Music and were students of the famous pedagogue Dorothy Delay.

From the initial entry, he made the Huggins Stradivarius (1708) sing. His tall frame only helped him project the sound even better across the hall. While there have been times when I have complained about the sound in the VCH and that our weather does horrible things to Stradivarius instruments, I must admit yesterday all these theories were thrown out the door. His clarity of tone was phenomenal, his phrasing was immaculate and all aspects of his powerful technique were evident. From his pizzicati to his double-stops, his vibrato and also his bow strokes, I was just amazed. I have to give it to the conductor as well because the rapport between both of them set the stage for this great performance. Conductor David Hoose constantly kept eye contact, watching the soloist and allowing him to dictate the time and pace. This is the way conducting a concerto should be. Often it is catch-me-if-you-can and one is not sure who is leading who.

The orchestra was well under Hoose's guidance throughout, allowing the soloist to truly take centre stage. Znaider is only 23 years old but never have I heard such an introspective reading of this in a live performance. The Bruch (left) Violin Concerto No.1 is difficult to play 'live' and is often played in too ritualistic a manner, without imagination. What made Znaider different was the imagination which he put into a piece that does not give you much room for it. And yet, he was able to instil the music with great vision. Often dark passages for the violin take a lot of experience to project and Nikolaj did this with poise and great maturity. You can straight away understand why Lord Menuhin named him the "successor to Ysaÿe". His attention to details, colour and even punctuation truly make him a fiddler to be on the look out for. His tempo in the Adagio was taken at a dignified pace, never wallowing and this was felt throughout the concerto. He was able to disengage himself from the mere details of the score in order to focus on the grand design as a whole, something which he pulled off effortlessly.

I personally think that Znaider is one violinist to look out for because he possesses a sort of metallic (but not thin) sheen few violinist possess - the Stradivarius perhaps added to this. He keeps a keen and constant eye on the whole work, sensitively building the architecture of the music. I must say that his performance made me feel that rare sense of enchantment, transporting me to regions of elegance and beauty seldom felt at the VCH. I felt so many emotions - of abandon, exuberance and exaltation all within a space of half an hour. I am convinced many people were taken on this same journey - I only wish that the second half could have been another concerto!

His encore was a virtuosic piece by Fritz Kreisler, whom he called the greatest Viennese violinist. I could not catch the name of the piece - his introspective reading of the slow passages fixated the whole crowd while his speedy bowing dazzled us as it raced across the registers of the violin. I have no doubt that he will do well in works by Shostakovich and even the Bach Partitas for solo violin.

The second half of the concert - Beethoven's "Pastoral Symphony" - was rather disappointing. Nature plays an important part in the art of the Romantics. Some of Beethoven's best and most well-known pieces depicted nature, such as the "Moonlight Sonata" and "Tempest Sonata" for solo piano, as well as the poetry from Schiller's Ode to Joy used in the Ninth Symphony. These works bring out the best in Beethoven, who found great solace in returning to nature. However, I just did not get this feeling in this performance of the "Pastoral". The movements were taken very strictly to time and while the orchestra responded to Hoose's conducting I just felt that the restraint was too strong.

The woodwind dialogues in the second and third movements were essentially warm and the orchestra followed at a persuasive pace, but I felt that less restraint could have achieved the seamlessness that would with more naturalness and relaxation better portray the countryside and the "Scenes by the Brook" in the second movement. The fourth movement is a "Thunderstorm", but I was pretty disappointed by the SSO's un-stormy performance. They should have literally thrown caution to the wind. The storm should be executed with great gusto, with horns blaring. What we needed was the strength of a "tempest". There just wasn’t enough "oomph" and drama in the big tutti passages. The last movement ended with a warm but only semi-glorious finale.

The night did end on a bit of an anti-climax. But the excitement in the concerto was something that will leave impressions for a long time to come.

112: 8.3.98

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