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ASO hosts the enlightened Oliver Knussen
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CONCERT REVIEW Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Thursday in symphony Hall. Program repeats Friday and Saturday at 8 pm. 404-733-5000, www.atlantasymphony.org
Oliver Knussen’s performance Thursday in Symphony Hall proves he is a one-off.
With shaggy hair and beard and a wrinkled Dickensian suit, the British conductor lacks the surface polish of an international maestro. He’s an esteemed composer, too, yet he cavalierly blows most of his deadlines — more on that anon. Still, his unique genius is irresistible.
Knussen led the ASO in 2003, an enlightening performance that included his own Horn Concerto surrounded by music of 20th century masters. He returned Thursday, baggy suit and all, with similar programming. His Violin Concerto, from 2002, shared the evening with Respighi’s “The Fountains of Rome” (1916) and a 1939 orchestration of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.”
Knussen’s 16-minute concerto is violinistic in all the best ways. Lyrical, long bow strokes are interspersed with neatly packed fast runs up and down the fingerboard. Many of the exposed passages are bewitchingly beautiful. The composer’s program notes give us imagery of the violinist as a tightrope walker, presumable with the orchestra as the circus performers. Instead, I heard echos of great British concertos (William Walton’s especially) and, more specifically, a magical world. Like all good fairy tales, this one depicts a shimmering, enchanted reality and, down below, an uneasy, unreformable dark side. I found the play of light and dark utterly captivating.
As soloist, Leila Josefowicz, an outstanding young American violinist, has always been an idiosyncratic player; that is now backed by communication skills that make every utterance on her fiddle a bracing, personal statement. She’s performed the Knussen concerto elsewhere, and her dedication to the prowess and nuances of the score was evident throughout.
Knussen admits that he’s terrible with deadlines, usually missing them. This concerto was first requested 25 years ago. Years passed. Finally in late 2001, needing to fulfill a Pittsburgh commission, Knussen polished it off in a few months.
And, actually, the violin concerto on Thursday’s program was itself a late substitution for a work the composer has yet to finish, a commission for the Cleveland Orchestra to be called “Cleveland Pictures.”
The inspiration for Knussen’s “Pictures” is Mussorgsky’s famous “Pictures,” an 1874 piano piece that’s most often heard in Ravel’s dazzling, quasi-Oriental orchestration.
Knussen and the ASO instead offered it in a little-known version by Leopold Stokowski — thickly Slavic in character, this orchestration is at times wildly original and clever, elsewhere flat and uninspired.
For the evening opening “Fountains of Rome,” Knussen brought his conducting specialities: extreme clarity and translucence to each image. Here the ASO played with technical precision but, more importantly, a greater depth of understanding and heightened reaction to each other. Knussen seems to emphasize that it’s as important to listen as to play beautifully. He accomplishes all this and more.
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