United States Batiashvili Performs Beethoven: Lisa Batiashvili (violin), Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra / Robin Ticciati (conductor). Walt Disney Live performance Corridor, Los Angeles, 5.1.2025. (LV)
Dvořák – Prague Waltzes, B.99; Symphony No.8 in G main, Op.88, B.163
Beethoven – Violin Concerto in D main, Op.61
[Jim Pritchard for S&H: this is a review of a concert obviously shortly before fires began to threaten the LA area, our thoughts are with those who have suffered loss in this tragedy for the city and their families and friends.]
Lisa Batiashvili’s return to Los Angeles in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto drew a big contingent of critics to Walt Disney Live performance Corridor on Sunday afternoon. Her efficiency, paired with Robin Ticciati’s conducting of Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony, demonstrated why.
From the crisp opening of the double basses and cellos crunching their first 4 notes alongside the eloquent timpanist, Ticciati used the lowered string ensemble (10-8-6-5-3) to outstanding impact. His meticulously timed course and highly effective rhetorical pause within the introduction set the stage for Batiashvili’s entrance. Her interpretation proved remarkably constant along with her memorable 2002 Hollywood Bowl efficiency, whereas revealing new depths of creative looking out.
Batiashvili’s method was lean, athletic, and heat. She wielded weight and bow pace with masterful management, fantastically synchronizing with orchestral climaxes. As Ticciati balanced the five-note motif’s prominence with out overpowering, the bassoons have been beautiful, practically crooning, and Batiashvili spun triplets like silken webs of sound. Although sustaining good composure, she appeared to harbor a need for even better momentum.
The sluggish motion averted its frequent destiny of frozen stillness, as an alternative glowing with the purity of Batiashvili’s tone and imaginative sweep. Whereas the woodwinds and brass emerged too prominently within the central part, and right here the bassoon may have used extra vibrato, the pizzicato strings created moments of particular intimacy.
Regardless of a quick horn mishap after the cadenza and an unwelcome mobile phone interruption, Batiashvili launched into an electrifying finale that left the orchestra breathless. Although the bagpipe drone part verged on dropping management, she concluded with the identical triumphant spirit that marked her efficiency twenty years in the past.
After the intermission, Ticciati revealed his profound understanding of Dvořák’s idiom within the composer’s Prague Waltzes. Below his course, the woodwinds discovered simply the precise rustic tones, whereas the brass conjured pictures of a Czech village sq.. The strings maintained a silky, luxuriant high quality all through.
Ticciati crafted a studying of the Eighth Symphony that was each meticulously sculpted and explosively dynamic. First Affiliate Concertmaster Nathan Cole’s solo within the sluggish motion achieved candy perfection, even within the double-stops. The orchestra managed the uncommon feat of reaching the rating’s marked pianissimo earlier than the French horn name – a element typically neglected in efficiency.
The Allegretto grazioso moved at a perfect flowing tempo, although its Trio part missed some important magic with overly reserved woodwinds. Within the finale (Allegro ma non troppo), daring trumpet calls heralded a considerably uneven foremost theme, however the cellos introduced transferring eloquence to the ultimate variation earlier than an unconventional but wonderful conclusion.
Whereas Ticciati’s Dvořák proved deeply satisfying, one would possibly want the LA Philharmonic would discover the composer’s less-frequently carried out symphonies – notably the Third by way of Sixth – in future seasons. Nonetheless, this mixture of Batiashvili’s masterful Beethoven and Ticciati’s vibrant Dvořák demonstrated orchestral music-making at its most interesting.
Laurence Vittes
