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United States Mozart, Shostakovich: Martin Helmchen (piano), Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Vladimir Jurowski (conductor). Symphony Center, Chicago, 28.4.2023. (JLZ)
Mozart – Piano Concerto No.25 in C main
Shostakovich – Symphony No.8 in C minor
In his return to Symphony Center, Vladimir Jurowski confirmed his finesse on the podium in a program that included two contrasting works. He was eager to carry out their particular person stylistic parts successfully, and to elicit highly effective music-making from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Likewise, pianist Martin Helmchen demonstrated his acumen as a soloist in a nuanced studying of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.25. Helmchen’s clear phrasing matched the orchestra’s as he labored with the conductor in executing this acquainted work. The pleasure got here from their freshness in shaping the construction of the primary motion. While the Concerto itself was interrupted by a spate of late-comers who have been seated after the primary motion, Jurowski was eager to attend for individuals to be quiet earlier than resuming the work. That pause set the tone for a considerate efficiency of the second motion.
Here the interpretation soared due to the lyricism that complemented the extroverted method each had proven to good impact within the first motion. It was as if two exemplary musicians have been enjoying a duet they knew nicely. That synergy was key to the Finale, which introduced the primary half of this system to its conclusion. Audience members lingered on their toes on the finish of the work, as if anticipating an encore. That didn’t happen, however the response mirrored the connection Helmchen and Jurowski had with the Chicago viewers. (The same interplay between the 2 is clear in a 2011 recording of Shostakovich’s Piano Concertos Nos.1 and a couple of, made with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.)
In the second half of this system, the conductor led Shostakovich’s Symphony No.8 with consummate fashion. From the opening of the primary motion, he gave this essential rating the form it deserves. The prolonged string textures within the first a part of the motion mirrored the delicate ensemble enjoying of the Chicago Symphony, and his consideration to the balances made the efficiency much more putting.
Jurowski labored with the CSO in permitting numerous voices to enter and mix convincingly. His gestures have been as efficient because the subtleties in tempo that supported his directing. The first motion was masterful, and he exhibited the identical virtuosity within the Scherzo that adopted. For that motion, Shostakovich’s use of Scherzo and march parts require the ability of a proficient chief to carry out the main points, and that was true right here.
There was a quick pause earlier than the structural arc of three attacca actions that kind the ultimate part of the work. The driving motor rhythms that happen within the toccata-like motion punctuate the textures and transfer the content material ahead. Under the Jurowski’s cautious consideration, the brass sonorities have been full and wealthy with out ever turning into strident. The burnished high quality of the brass was matched by the exact voicings that characterize the woodwinds.
Likewise, the percussion supported the work with a variety of dynamic ranges and textural blends that strengthened the content material. In bringing the final motion to its conclusion, Jurowski maintained the drive that set this efficiency aside. In distinction to the extroverted Finale of Shostakovich’s Symphony No.5, the Eighth’s delicate ending requires the orchestral mastery he displayed as he introduced out the sonorities that give the motion its passable closing. The efficiency was compelling in its technical execution and interpretive grace.
James L. Zychowicz
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