United States Fisher, Mendelssohn, Strauss: Arabella Steinbacher (violin), Seattle Symphony / Tianyi Lu (conductor). Benaroya Hall, Seattle, 16.02.2023. (ZC)
Salina Fisher – ‘Tupaia’
Mendelssohn – Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op.64
Strauss – Aus Italien, Op.16
At simply twenty-two, Richard Strauss made the daring resolution to shift his compositional focus away from conventional kinds resembling symphonies. Around the identical time, heeding the recommendation of Johannes Brahms, Strauss traded in his chilly, North-European environment for the temperate local weather and impetuous life-style of Italy, the place inspiration struck.
It was there that Strauss composed Aus Italien, which broke away from the 2 conservative symphonies he had produced up to now. Each of the piece’s actions is programmatic, foreshadowing a lot of Strauss’s future works, together with Don Juan, his first ‘hit’. However, Aus Italien nonetheless adheres to a conventional, symphonic construction in 4 actions, with the tone and mood of the German symphony.
Yet, Aus Italien is neither a tone poem nor a symphony. It is a musical lacking hyperlink of kinds, connecting the outdated with the brand new, and it was the work that conductor Tianyi Lu featured in her latest go to to the rostrum with the Seattle Symphony. Lu is the newest in a collection of visitor conductors to go to Seattle, a lot of whom, like her, are within the early phases of promising worldwide careers. In 2020, Lu received first prize on the Sir Georg Solti International Conducting competitors, and engagements in Norway and the United Kingdom quickly adopted.
Lu’s Aus Italien introduced out the most effective on this piece, with poised, pleasing, rounded phrases. I used to be reminded a couple of instances that not so way back the Seattle Symphony had the repute of being a dependable Strauss and Wagner orchestra – perhaps not with the identical heft or muscle of European counterparts, however positively with the bravado essential to stir the viewers. It was a pleasing reminder.
In the primary half of this system, Lu paired Mendelssohn’s acquainted Violin Concerto in E minor with ‘Tupaia’, a latest composition by her fellow New Zealander, Salina Fisher. ‘Tupaia’ attracts from the legacy of the eponymous Tahitian navigator who explored the Pacific, mapped islands and facilitated contact with Captain James Cook. Much like Debussy’s La Mer and John Luther Adams’s Become Ocean, Fisher’s work captures the essence of the ocean and sky with undulating string figures and glowing percussion, albeit with out overt sea or wave motifs. It was a pleasing shock. Both the piece and the composer have been new to me, and it left me pondering of all of the methods oceans, rivers and nature might be integrated right into a season-long exploration.
Violinist Arabella Steinbacher joined Lu and the orchestra as soloist for the Mendelssohn concerto. This work hardly wants an introduction: justly well-known, it’s filled with melody, constantly flowing over the stage’s edge. Steinbacher performed with immaculate care and an at all times discernible, delicately delivered solo line. She felt each second and, with the path of Lu and help from the orchestra, it was nice to listen to this masterpiece bookended by much less acquainted works.
The live performance had been excessive on my listing for Aus Italien alone. But Lu’s talent on the podium made the entire night memorable. With the Seattle Symphony nonetheless looking for a conductor, I can’t assist however marvel what she may do with the orchestra on a everlasting foundation.
Zach Carstensen