Christian Tetzlaff got the short end of the stick the other day in San Francisco: his performance of the Brahms violin concerto, in which he more or less burned up his bow, the stage, and the whole auditorium, got buried under the coverage given to the premiere of Robin Holloway's Fourth Concerto for Orchestra.
I understand why, I really do. In most circumstances, the Brahms would have been the big piece on the concert. But the Holloway is a gigantic, entertaining, attractive, brand new, possibly important piece, and such works do need lots of attention. I'm glad it got the coverage it got.
STILL. Tetzlaff deserved more than a token couple of paragraphs at the end of the SFCV and Chronicle reviews. Based on what I knew, I was expecting a cool, restrained, austere performance of the Brahms. What I got...well. A hot, impassioned, intense, emotional, and extremely beautiful performance. WHAT a player he is, what assurance, what tone, what involvement.
The new piece is always the most important thing about a concert. That makes it very difficult for the undercard, as it were.
ReplyDeleteAh, yeah.
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