Silverstein lends assured
By Ruth O. Bingham
elegance to Beethoven
Special to the Star-BulletinPERFORMING the immortal Beethoven can be a daunting task. Everyone on both sides of the podium knows every note, so what more can be said after almost 200 years of performance?
Joseph Silverstein has an answer to that, as he demonstrated in the second concert of Honolulu Symphony's Beethoven festival. As conductor, violinist, and even composer, Silverstein revealed a warm, gentle, even delicate side to Beethoven, a revelation born of Silverstein's mature understanding.
Silverstein's Beethoven: With the Honolulu Symphony, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Blaisdell Concert Hall. Tickets $15-$47.50, at 538-8863
Silverstein is an excellent conductor. His rendering of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, the Pastorale, was more truly pastoral than most, as congenial as Silverstein himself. Conducting without a score before him, Silverstein presented an elegant interpretation, precisely conveyed.
Under his baton, the Honolulu Symphony delivered clarity and balance, every detail as carefully controlled as the overall structure.
Silverstein takes an unhurried approach - increasingly rare in this hyped and hectic world. His slow movement neither rushed nor dragged, but flowed as gently and restfully as Beethoven's programmatic title, "Scene by the Brook," implies. Even the third and fifth movements, marked Allegro and Allegretto, were more leisurely than is usual, resulting in broader climaxes and a divinely delicate hymn in the finale.
In the second half, Silverstein performed Beethoven's Violin Concerto as both soloist and conductor. During tutti sections, he faced the orchestra, conducting with bow or hand and occasionally playing along with the first violin part. During solos, he faced the audience, conducting with nods, glances, and with the help of Concertmaster Ignace Jang.
Conducting soloists, common in Classical times, are unusual today except among ensembles that specialize in performing in "authentic" ways.
In Sunday's concert, the technique produced two different orchestral sounds: a vibrant tutti sound when Silverstein was conducting and a more meshed, less assured accompaniment when he performed, possibly the result of the orchestra's attempt to balance with his solo.
Silverstein performed on his Guarneri "del Gesu" violin, one of the best and most valuable violins ever made, known for its large sound and projection. Silverstein's sound was not large but nonetheless carried well, in part owing to the orchestra's subdued playing; his timbre was exquisite in its delicate eloquence.
Although also technically demanding, Beethoven's Violin Concerto requires even greater artistic skill, a skill Silverstein displayed in abundance not only in his playing and conducting, but also in his composing.
He composed the cadenzas himself, using Beethoven models. That was expected of Classical performers, but today is a rather daring enterprise, especially in such a well-known work. The result was what a cadenza should be: part technical display, part artistic display, but primarily a musical "musing" on movement.
Ruth O. Bingham has a Ph.D. in musicology from
Cornell University, is a free-lance writer and teaches
part-time at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
