Concertos With Orchestra Press
Buffalo News - Mark O'Connor Performs the Fiddle Concerto
O'Connor makes music memories
April 04, 2009
As the full house was leaving the Orchard Park Symphony's concert, a
stranger took hold of my mother's arm. "That was a once-in-a-lifetime
experience," she exclaimed. And it was.
You could not beat Friday's concert for sheer entertainment — or for
quality, either. Music Director David Rudge was celebrating 10 years with
the orchestra, and he has built the group into a robust and excellent
ensemble.
Friday's guest star, too, was a national figure. The violinist Mark O'Connor
was in the house, playing his Fiddle Concerto.
O'Connor was a surprise a minute from the word go. He is bigger and more
burly than you would expect. We're used to violinists being thin and
aesthetic. O'Connor looks like a rancher out of a western.
He is handsome in a rough-hewn way, and there was something touching in
seeing him cradling his violin, so delicate in comparison. As the orchestra
played his concerto's initial exposition, he stood beaming, fingering the
melody, perhaps unconsciously, on his fiddle.
As I said, this is a unique piece. It began with a resounding,
orchestra-wide, Vivaldi-like fanfare. The fanfare melted into a waltz. Then
the violin entered with a flurry of virtuosity, and all eyes were on
O'Connor. It was fun to watch the orchestra musicians watch him. They all
looked transported, slightly dazzled.
One woman in the audience said her husband had peeked in at the rehearsal.
"It never stands still," was his report of the piece.
And it was true! O'Connor's cadenzas were especially engrossing. I would
believe he was improvising them on the spot. There were touches of Gypsy
jazz and of mountain music. An especially charming moment occurred after the
first movement cadenza, when the orchestra entered in brisk waves, starting
with the violins. The slow movement, too, was a highlight. It was tender and
trancelike.
Throughout the piece, the orchestration had surprises — horn blasts,
rattling percussion — but everything sounded natural, as if it belonged. The
last movement was a bit like an Elizabethan dance, courtly and breathless.
It ended in a burst of show-biz, with O'Connor's fingers flying and his bow
in bits.
Rudge and the orchestra did a heroic job of accompanying O'Connor swiftly
and smoothly. This has to have been tough. As for O'Connor, he had written
on Twitter that this was to be his 221st performance of the concerto. But
you would never know that from the passion he put into it.
He rewarded the fervent standing ovation with his trademark "Amazing Grace"
and a haunting "America the Beautiful" that made you wish time would stand
still.
Rudge and the orchestra began the night with a rousing performance of
Mendelssohn's "Scottish" Symphony. He is a charming conductor, with that
Dickensian name, and looks and comportment that could bring to mind Percy
Grainger. He and his forces did Mendelssohn proud. The Scherzo danced. For
the slow movement, Rudge sometimes put down his baton, and you could see him
coaxing the emotion from the orchestra with his hands. It worked. The music
was rapturous.
And powerful. I nailed seats in the third row and in the last movement it
was incredible, the volume that washed over us. Such excitement!
I'll treasure the memory.
Concert Review
Mark O'Connor
by By Mary Kunz Goldman - NEWS CLASSICAL MUSIC CRITIC
