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Saturday, November 6, 2004
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CONCERT REVIEW The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Friday 11/05/04 at Symphony Hall
By SUSAN ELLIOTT For the Journal-Constitution
You remember Arnold Schoenberg — the 20th-century Viennese composer who invented the 12-tone serial technique that still sends audiences stampeding to the exit doors?
Well, that modern, academic, acidic style was only the tip of Arnold’s admittedly chilly iceberg. He was also a brilliant orchestrator, easily on a par with Stravinsky, even. That’s the Schoenberg that was on display last night in Symphony Hall.
And what a display it was. The second half of the Atlanta Symphony’s otherwise all-Brahms program was devoted to Schoenberg’s orchestration of Brahms’ G Minor Quartet for Piano and Strings. Conducted with much gusto, guile and apparent glee by newcomer Jun Markl, this unabashed showoff of a piece emerged an absolute stunner, the orchestra responding to Markl’s persistent (and scoreless) urgings like a sleek racehorse to a jockey’s sure hand.
Schoenberg pulls out all the stops on this one, especially in the final, Gypsy-style movement, in which huge orchestral forces are crafted ingeniously (and with much humor) into something resembling an old-fashioned squeezebox accordion. Kudos to principal clarinet Laura Ardan for her wild, abandoned solo.
What a shame Atlantans didn’t flock to hear their resident orchestra in its finest hour. The hall was only half-full. Perhaps it was Schoenberg’s name in parentheses under Brahms’ that did it. For the program was truly an all-Brahms affair, complete with highly recognizable piano soloist performing the Concerto No. 1 in D minor in the first half. Horacio Gutierrez was in fine fettle, but the orchestra sounded underpowered, especially in the adagio, which so lacked tension as to nearly disintegrate. Perhaps it was because most of the principals sat out, preserving their energy for the program’s second half. It paid off.
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