Teen musicians are at the top of their game
On Sunday night, the New England Conservatory Youth Philharmonic found itself on a prestigious list of musicians who have gone ahead with concerts scheduled against the Super Bowl -- among them pianist Rudolf Serkin and the great Hungarian violinist Sandor Vegh.
The Youth Philharmonic found itself in this difficult position by accident; snowed out of its concert two weeks ago, the group found the only date in Jordan Hall was Sunday night. The teenage musicians arrived onstage armed for bear, and although they did not play to a full house, the friends, parents, classmates, and music lovers in the audience cheered as if they were at a football game.
The program, under the direction of Benjamin Zander, showcased an emerging star, cellist Jacqueline Choi, who offered Tchaikovsky's "Rococo" Variations. At 17, Choi is awesomely poised both in her stage presence and her playing. She wore a billowing white net skirt; it looked as if her cello were riding on a cloud. She was on top of the musical and technical demands of this piece, although aggressive determination dominated other expressive qualities in some of the biggest passages. She also played with enormous charm and finesse in some of the lighter music -- and with fabulous dynamic control -- and she took visible and highly communicative pleasure in performing. Zander, a former cellist, knew exactly what to do, and conductor and orchestra cheered their colleague as vigorously as the audience did.
No doubt the Youth Philharmonic boasts other future stars in its lineup; the level of playing was high, whether the goal was dynamic and rhythmic refinement in Ravel's "Rhapsodie espagnole" or going for broke in the biggest, loudest moments of Holst's "The Planets": "Mars" or "Jupiter." Holst's suite was in vogue decades ago when people were eager to show off their new hi-fi systems to the neighbors. It isn't heard in concert that often anymore, at least not around here. Zander, a onetime pupil of Holst's daughter Imogen, led with authority, and the performance was full of enough spirit to overcome a few accidents probably attributable to the show's two-week delay. "Saturn" and "Neptune," two movements of complementary quiet, were subtle and in-drawing, and the mystic entry of the wordless women's voices from the NEC Youth Chorale, stationed out in the hallway, was magical.
New England Conservatory Youth Philharmonic
Benjamin Zander, conductor
At: Jordan Hall, Sunday night
