Haven't Had This Much Fun at the Symphony!
Mar 07 '09 (Updated Mar 10 '09)
The Bottom Line Young violinist Lindsay Deutsch warrants your attention and close watch! A wonderful, intelligent yet emotive, fun and humourous performer! Maestro Grant Cooper programs another excellent night for WVSO patrons!
Do this: go here: http://www.lindsaydeutsch.com/ and get a glimpse of this gifted young violinist in action.
Then read on.
Last night's performance at the Clay Center in Charleston, West Virginia, by the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra with guest violinist Lindsay Deutsch featured Russian Sergei Prokofiev's 2nd Violin Concerto, American John Corigliano's ‘Red Violin' Chaconne, bookended by Austrian Johann Strauss, Jr's famous ‘On the Beautiful Blue Danube' and Frenchman Maurice Ravel's twist on the Straussian waltz, ‘La Valse'. It's all part of the Symphonic Series called ‘On the Shoulders of Giants' planned by Maestro Grant Cooper.
And I must confess, I haven't had this much fun at the symphony in a long while - all accomplished without anyone resorting to clownish or tacky tricks. No, the evening's enjoyment owed a whole lot to the charismatic presence of the guest violinist herself, Ms Deutsch.
I wasn't familiar with the Prokofiev Violin Concerto before the concert, and that made me prick up my ears more to follow this work along with the players, with the music and rhythm all fresh and new to mine ears. The ‘Red Violin' Chaconne was not a stranger, as I've long liked the theme from the interesting film about the travels through time and place of an old red violin.
So we were treated to not just one, but two violin works. Ms Deutsch plays on a 1724 Sanctus Seraphin violin and bow (on loan from the Mandell Collection of Southern California), and the sound produced on this instrument is special - resonant, full-bodied, and projects well.
Besides her excellent, passion-filled yet intelligent playing, Ms Deutsch is also not a static stage performer at all. Statuesque and well-toned, she will stand tall and straight with chin up in some particularly difficult, rapid passages, then she'll bend her body while dipping the violin forward in others as if to emphasise the notes - but I think it's also her way of reaching out to, and sharing the music with, the audience, much like a musical conversation she engages in. She 'converses', as it were, with conductor (the estimable Grant Cooper, director of the West Virginia Symphony) and the orchestra, too. Her full-body and facial animation was filled with vitality and didn't annoy me in the least - surprisingly so, as I tend to dislike over-acting, grimacing performers (Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and Michiko Uchida, for all their fine playing, are impossible for me to watch.) Ms Deutsch wore a long, black gown accented with sparkling stones for the Prokofiev, then came back after the intermission with a blazing red gown gathered at one side (with matching red strap heels) for the ‘Red Violin' Chaconne.
The Prokofiev had all the jagged and exciting qualities typical of the composer, but there were loads of fun in there, too, especially in the third movement which enters like an elephant lumbering onto the scene. The humour and vitality are brought to more vivid life by Ms Deutsch's onstage deportment. The strongly percussive 'Red Violin' Chaconne was a truly invigorating piece, and great fun to watch being performed by Ms Deutsch and the orchestra. She sure was having the time of her life up there. I especially enjoyed those peppy pizzicatos (plucking of strings), and the snappy, whipping bow stroke that ends a phrase. I couldn't help but grin and smile all night, such joy did I feel with the playing of Ms Deutsch and the orchestra. (Her previous racquetball champ status may have something to do with her vigorous, athletic playing!)
The two waltzes that opened and closed the program were very well played by the WVSO, and one had to resist the urge to get up and dance with that infectious, one-two-three, one-two-three rhythm. They were perfect pieces to start and end a wonderful mix of the modern and traditional (thanks to Mr Cooper and Ms Deutsch's excellent sense of programming) that introduced the audience to less oft-played works, and to a truly rising violin artist (she's only 24, but is mature way beyond her years) who bears close watching. Remember that name: Lindsay Deutsch - I do believe we shall hear more about her in the not-too-distant future! And do try to catch her live performances if she ever comes to your town! You'll never forget it!
NOTES:
The second night at the Clay Center in Charleston, WV, with Lindsay Deutsch and the WVSO/Grant Cooper is tonight, Saturday, 7 March 2009 at 8 pm Eastern. (Third performance in all; Ms Deutsch had just played with the same ensemble for the first time in Fairmont, WV, on Thursday, 5 March.)
Tickets and info can be had here:
http://www.wvsymphony.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage
&Itemid=1
Single tickets range from $9 ($5 for children) to around $54.
***Edited to add:
A fourth performance in WV is scheduled in Parkersburg, on March 8, 2009 (Sunday) at 3 pm EDT at the Blennerhassett Middle School:
http://www.wvsymphony.org/index.php?view=details&id=
30:tour-giants-parkersburg&option=com_eventlist&Itemid=53
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For more on Ms Deutsch, visit the following sites:
http://www.lindsaydeutsch.com/
- Watch her in action in those videos on the home page!
http://www.thespec.com/article/229645
- This tells a bit more about her background, and the heart-stopping near-loss of that 1724 Sanctus Seraphin in 2005!
She even has cofounded with sister, Lauren, the Classics Alive website:
http://www.classicsalive.org/
- A site to encourage youngsters to engage in classical music and continue to do so (has obtained corporate sponsorship for that site, too).
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