Review: KSO's 'Russian Showcase'
KNOXVILLE, TN February 19, 1999
Review: "KSO's Russian Showcase concert truly a notable event"
Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Thursday night and again at 8 tonight, Tennessee Theatre, Knoxville.
Bring out the caviar and vodka, a celebration is in order!
The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra negotiated the whole gamut of musical expression in its "Russian
Showcase" program Thursday night. The concert also showcased guest conductor Andre Raphel Smith and guest
cellist Yosif Feigelson. It was truly a notable event. If you can get over to the Tennessee Theater for the second
round, you'll be very glad you did.
Andre Raphel Smith, assistant conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, replaced previously scheduled
Alexander Dmitriev. With all due respect to Dmitriev, I wouldn't take anything for the pleasure of watching Smith in
action. Nobody can ever accuse this "Music Man" of not being up to speed. He's always a couple of winks ahead
of the music, pulling a load of musicians and notes in forward motion.
If there's anything more joyful than great music, it is watching the joy of those making it. Yosif Feigelson is an
exciting cello virtuoso who makes ridiculously little work out of formidable technical challenges.He could get away
with embroiling himself in his own talent, but he is a servant to music and clearly enjoys the miracle of a score. It
was inspiring to watch him respond to the orchestra's beautiful passages, especially those from soloists. After
several curtain calls, he clutched to his heart Moisei Vainberg's score ("Fantasy for Cello and Orchestra"), giving
the composer credit. With his sturdy, warm, enormously big tone, he could be called the Caruso of the Cello.
Actually, his father was a leading opera tenor in Latvia, and his mother was a violinist. Maybe that explains why
his cello "sings" so gorgeously in both the cello and violin range.
The "Fantasy" is dramatic and dark-hued. There are long passionate phrases with everchanging sonorities.
The first few measures of the Adagio movement (first) hooked anybody with a love for the haunting beauty of
Russian melodies and their rich harmonies. We knew that Russian bass singers can sing lower than their
American counterparts, but we didn't know that a cello could sound so low and mellow at the same time. Of
course there were the authoritative low notes too, the delicious kind that growl at you.The piece got meaner in
the Allegro movement, which began with a Slavic kind of heaviness before it accelerated so fast the weight
turned into dazzling virtuosity. This exercise in technical agility was topped off by a passionate solo cadenza
filled with rich double stops and elaborate finger work played with style and conviction. After several exciting
crescendos, a fine diminuendo took the music back to its first emotional theme. Whatever our musical passion,
we could all find something to rave about in Feigelson's masterful rendition of the "Rococo Theme" variations.
He tossed off the decorative ornaments with such ease and such splendor it belied the difficulty of the task.
He pointed up the frilliness but he didn't flaunt them.
Imaginative inventions and romantic contrasts were part of the music's charm and emotional appeal, but it
was the craftsmanship of Feigelson that brought the audience to its feet.
Becky Ball for Oak Ridger, Knoxville TN