Excerpt from Princeton’s “Town Topics” by Nancy Plum
Princeton Symphony Orchestra closed the 2021-22 season this past weekend with a classical violinist who is making his mark worldwide. Led by PSO Music Director Rossen Milanov, the Orchestra and guest violinist Stefan Jackiw performed a lesser-known and somewhat underrated 20th-century concerto, bracketed by a very contemporary work and a symphonic classic.
American violinist Jackiw showed himself from the opening measures of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Violin Concerto in D Major to be a very physical player, leaning into solo lines with a youthful and fresh sound. Korngold’s Concerto (nicknamed the Hollywood Concerto when it first premiered) was definitely cinematic, full of lush music designed to pull at listeners’ emotions. Korngold’s colorful orchestration provided numerous solo opportunities for the wind and brass players, including oboist Lillian Copeland and hornist Gabrielle Pho.
Milanov surrounded Korngold’s Concerto with a one-movement work of Gabriela Lena Frank rooted in the music of Peru and a familiar symphony by Felix Mendelssohn. Frank’s Elegía Andina employed elements of Peruvian percussion to musically depict Frank’s exploration of her ethnic background. The piece took a dark turn with a rich sectional cello sound, as Milanov led the Orchestra well to a quiet and peaceful ending of the imaginative piece.
Although not as well-known as his more popular “Italian” Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3 in A Minor (nicknamed the “Scottish” Symphony) is equally as full of Mendelssohn’s rich melodic writing, and was a fitting close to this early spring concert. Milanov led the Princeton Symphony Orchestra players through a stately introduction to the first movement, with dark orchestral colors recalling the Scottish moors and countryside which had inspired Mendelssohn. A brooding but hopeful melody marked the first movement, with intensity achieved through density of orchestration.
Andy Cho’s clarinet solo in the second movement was almost a hornpipe, with the rest of the ensemble keeping the music moving through Mendelssohn’s rhythmic “Scotch snap.” The third movement “adagio” was played elegantly by the Orchestra, with a clean melody from the first violins against pizzicato playing from the rest of the strings. The violins demonstrated particularly intense playing in the closing movement against clean oboes and clarinets, with the music well punctuated by the brass sections. Flutist Farsi, oboist Copeland, clarinetist Cho, and bassoonist Brad Balliett all provided stylistic solos, with Milanov and the full ensemble bringing the symphony to a melodic and joyous close.