LINDSAY DEUTSCH Bouquets for Harron, brickbats for OSO By Danny Gaisin The most consistent thing about the Oakville Symphony is its inconsistency. Last weekend was the perfect example as the OSO presented the second of this season’s concerts, entitled ‘Espana’. The dramatic opening consisted of two motifs from Bizet’s opera, Carmen. The prelude, with its somber and onomatopoeic portend of doom, and the dramatically sensitive Aragonaise. Both were perfectly executed. Not so Granados’ Intermezzo from Goyescas. A weak viola introduction was technically fallible, but the offset was an impeccable flute solo. Oboist Paul Lancaster demonstrated both delicacy and precision in his solos. The overture to Forza del Destino was the high point of the first half of the program. Ravel’s ‘Pavane’ was directed rather slowly for what is a definitely stately dance. The closing, Tres Danzas Espanolas, again by Granado, was barely acceptable. The orchestra played the piece with empty emotion. Granados and his contemporaries wrote numerous zarzuelas, the Spanish mode of opera, and the format by definition requires, and instills, intense passion. The guest artist was violinist Lindsay Deutsch and the work selected was Edouard Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole. The first movement’s underlining harmonious theme is exquisite in its beauty and under her firm bow, the Sanctus Seraphin violin caressed every magnificent nuance. Then, the E-string peg slipped. With maturity, professionalism, and humor, she re-tuned her instrument earning deservedly respectful applause. The Scherzando second movement wetted the corners of my eyes and I could feel my nerve endings responding to the music, and the sensation carried over into the vibrant, mesmerizing andante. She is a definitive musical force. Maestro DeClara, please bring this amazing twenty-year old back soon! |