The sounds of the first viola ever made by Antonio Stradivarius wafted through the rafters of Symphony Center on Thursday as French-born Antoine Tamestit performed William Walton’s concerto for that instrument. On loan from the Stradivari Habisreutinger Foundation, this viola from 1672 allowed Tamestit to make this concerto wail. Backing him up was the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the direction of guest conductor Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider.
Walton was a British composer who was active in the middle of the 20th Century. Thursday’s program, which will be repeated tonight, opened with a work by an older British contemporary of Walton, Ralph Vaughan Williams. After intermission, the concert concluded with a barnstorming performance of a barnstorming work, Peter Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in f-minor.
Both Tamestit and Szeps-Znaider exhibited great stage presence. Hailing from Denmark, Szeps-Znaider led from the podium with a baton in his right hand. Under his guidance, the CSO was tight as a glove. Phrasing was perfect, with everyone starting and stopping simultaneously. With one small exception, intonation was wonderful
As the program notes explained, Vaughan Williams wrote the incidental music for a 1909 production of The Wasps, a Greek comedy written in 422 BC by Aristophanes. Vaughan Williams creates very effective buzzing sounds with lots of quiet tremolos and trills, but things soon evolve into a melody reminiscent of the American frontier. The CSO’s tightness was evident from the beginning as Szeps-Znaider carefully ensured the different sections of the orchestra blended well. This is a fun work, and CSO delivered all the gaiety to be had.
A different feel soon ensued with Tamestit performing Walton’s Viola Concerto, a very introspective and passionate piece. Matching the viola’s dark sounds, the strings started out playing with mutes, which, by taking away their overtone color, makes violins sound like violas. Remarkable was the way Tamestit interacted with the orchestra, sometimes facing them with his back to the audience.
The opening movement was a moderately paced Andante, but the second movement, Vivo, con motto preciso had the feel of fast-moving train. With so many moving parts, it seemed like Tamestit and Szeps-Znaider were assembling a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle. The finale opened with the principal bassoonist Keith Buncke playing solo with the basses. Tamestit soon traded solos with the other winds, cellos, and violas.
After a well-deserved standing ovation, Tamestit offered an encore. Noting that composer Paul Hindemith played the world premier of Vaughan Williams’ viola concerto, Tamestit played the fourth movement of Hindemith’s Sonata for Solo Viola, Op. 25 No. 1. It was a wild and lively way to end the first half.
After intermission, Szeps-Znaider led a bang-up performance of Tchaikovsky’s fourth symphony. The CSO’s trumpets, trombones, horns, and tuba inspired awe and suspense with precise starts and stops in the fate motif that opens the work and reappears in several places. The moderate-paced opening movement was performed with as much drama as one could ever want.
As amazing as the performance of the opening movement was, it was the slower second movement that showed off the enormous talent of the musicians on stage. Solos by Clarinetist Bruce Yeh, oboist William Welter, flautist Stefán Ragnar Höskuldsson, and bassoonist Keith Buncke fully captured the wistful feel of this tune. After the pizzicato filled Scherzo, the whirlwind finale answers fate in the most celebratory way possible. Szeps-Znaider and the CSO were stunning as the sounds swirled through the ether.
The only problem was intonation in the timpani. In the opening movement, the lowest kettle drum was a little off. Timpanist David Herbert seemed to know something was not right. During the lengthy rests in the second and third movements, he quietly adjusted the drums’ intonation. By the finale, they sounded perfect.
Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Antoine Tamestit, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra repeat this program at Symphony Center tonight, September 28, 2024, 7:30 pm. For ticket information, click here.
Next week, Christoph Eschenbach and the Dutch brothers Lucas and Arthur Jussen perform Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, Pastoral, and a work by Richard Strauss. Friday, October 4, 2024, 1:30 pm, Saturday, October 5, 2024, 7:30 pm, and Sunday, October 6, 2024, 3:00 pm. For ticket information click here.