Review: 1st Subscription Series, TCHAIKOVSKY. Canberra Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Verbitsky. At Llewellyn Hall, March 28, 1996

Canberra Symphony Orchestra

1st Subscription Series 1996

Thursday 28th March

Vladimir Verbitsky, Conductor

Mincho Minchev, Violin

Reviewed by Tony Magee

Photo courtesy Jonathan Wentworth Associates Ltd., Hyattsville

An all Tchaikovsky program with a Russian conductor at the helm. It sounds promising and it generally was, at the second night of the first subscription series for 1996 by the Canberra Symphony Orchestra.

Vladimir Verbitsky brings with him a vast international experience and it is a credit both to the orchestra's management and to the reputation of the players that they are able to secure conductors of such international standing.

The concert opened with the Polonaise from the opera Eugene Onegin. With it's trumpet opening (reminiscent of the Symphony no 4) confidently bursting forth, this piece was brightly and charmingly played, flowing along with minimalist conducting - a Boeing 747 on autopilot, but still under the watchful eye of its captain.

Bulgarian violinist, Mincho Minchev, was the featured soloist in the Concerto for Violin in D, Op.35. Minchev's soft passages were certainly well played, but I found his forte to be rather shrill. The loud passages in this concerto certainly do need plenty of attack but this shouldn't be at the expense of beauty of tone. Minchev executed the first movement cadenza well and the finale was definitely exciting, but still retaining that harsh, shrill sound. In the slow movement however, the audience was treated to a violin tone of much greater beauty.

The orchestra was very tight, following their conductor well who once again just kept the pulse flowing - if I may make another transport analogy - this time like an old fashioned traffic policeman; feet planted firmly together, hardly moving his body at all.

Balance between soloist and orchestra was excellent throughout the concerto and the third movement revealed some superb solo woodwind interludes, eventually taken over by the violin.

The Symphony No 6 in B minor, subtitled Pathetique, closed the concert. This was a fantastic performance. The orchestra sounded magnificent, with Mr Verbitsky doing a complete Jeckl and Hyde and really going for it, maintaining great control over the orchestra. The end of the first movement featured a wonderfully executed diminuendo featuring superbly played falling scale passages from the double basses and cellos.

The third movement of this symphony features a remarkable false ending which came off brilliantly and the last dwindling moments of the finale were breathtakingly held by the ingenious body language of the conductor.

Overall, a most enjoyable evening.

Originally published in Muse Magazine (Canberra) April 1996