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REVIEW: Anchorage Symphony

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Anchorage Daily News

Posted: January 26, 2008 - 8:02 pm

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein: Performed the Dvorak concerto.By MAIA NOLAN

“Sunshine and Shadow” was the theme of the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra’s most recent offering, and both the title and the musical selections were suitable to this time of year when the days start to lengthen but the nights are still dark and chilly. Saturday night, under the direction of guest conductor Jung-Ho Pak, the orchestra presented three pieces selected for their respective lightness and/or darkness. While Saturday’s program did not represent the Symphony’s best work this season, an impassioned performance by guest soloist cellist Alisa Weilerstein offered more than adequate compensation for any shortcomings.

The first offering, Mozart’s Adagio and Fugue in C minor, is uncharacteristically heavy for the Classical composer, who was inspired in this case by the works of J.S. Bach. Pak had rearranged the strings, seating the celli and violas in the center of the orchestra, bordered by the violins, a grouping that he explained was common in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and is regaining popularity among contemporary orchestras. While the arrangement seemed to provide a good anchor for the adagio, the strings seemed to lack power throughout the Mozart. The notes were there, but the forcefulness demanded by the dark, strident piece was missing. It wanted a touch more volume and a deeper sense of power.

Coupled nicely with the shadowy, Bach-influenced Mozart was Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 in D major, the promised “sunshine.” Pak’s conducting is more balletic than that of the Symphony’s music director and regular conductor, Randall Fleischer, who has a more energetic style, and possibly as a result, the orchestra’s usual spark seemed to be missing. The music itself was lovely as always; however, the Beethoven did want a little more precision to deliver the crisp, sharp sound it deserved.

If there was any spirit missing in the first half of the program, though, there was rich compensation following intermission, when Weilerstein stepped onstage to perform Dvorak’s Cello Concerto in B minor, op. 104. Weilerstein wrapped herself around her instrument, delivering a performance so fluid and physical it was hard to accept that the cello wasn’t just an extension of her body (or vice versa). A graceful and passionate musician, Weilerstein seemed to approach each cadenza as though it were the last time she would ever play, drawing her bow away from the strings only with reluctance.

While Weilerstein’s connection with her instrument was so intimate that at times the rest of the orchestra seemed to disappear behind her, it was not an exclusive relationship; rather, she drew the audience into her reverie. Her performance was hypnotic; there were moments at which the entire Atwood Concert Hall held its collective breath, hanging on her every note. She was, without a doubt, the high point of the evening, and one of the highlights of the Symphony’s season so far.

Maia Nolan lives and writes in Anchorage.

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