This week’s performances at the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) feature Sir Colin Davis conducting, with Nikolaj Znaider playing solo violin. The BSO performed Mozart’s Symphony No. 38 “Prague,” which is a nice piece that I’ve heard before and have recordings of but do not know well. Znaider performed the Elgar Violin Concerto.
I was seated stage left on the first balcony, with a crick in my neck thanks in part to the Loud Breather sitting next to me but great acoustics otherwise. The seat provided me with a view from the top that I seldom had experienced in Symphony Hall before, with a clear angle at the two violin sections situated next to one another on the stage. The full strength of the symphony returned tonight, with Malcolm Lowe and Tamara Smirnova back at first stand (order restored in my universe).
From this viewpoint, Znaider appeared larger than life on the stage, a towering figure whose actual stature I had difficulty ascertaining. But the sound he produced from that ex-Kreisler 1732 Guarneri del Gesù instrument was as large as he appeared. Rich and magnificent, the power emanating from that tiny violin body filled the hall with grandeur at each note. According to the BSO’s notes, the del Gesù’s namesake Fritz Kreisler himself thought of the Elgar that it ranked among the greatest concertos written for the instrument, and he gave its premiere performance. To think how nearly the exact vibrating tones of the piece had echoed from within the violin so many years before and were now finding another, unique escape on a new stage ….
The Elgar Violin Concerto is a long, complex piece. I’m going to have to give it more time before making any judgments on it, though I must admit that the melodies in the Brahms or the Bruch are more palatable for me on first taste. I suspect there are gems to be discovered in the Elgar if one has the presence to listen for them, and hearing Znaider for my first recital cannot be a bad beginning. It is clear that there are a great many number of talented violinists out there, and it’s still an exciting time to see what fresh creativity they can bring to the hallowed old traditions of this timeless music.
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[...] be performed first on the concert program, but the Mozart was first. I heard Mr Znaider perform the Elgar Violin Concerto last season, which I enjoyed very much. I noticed again that Mr Znaider’s towering figure almost equaled [...]