In Sunday’s (7/26) Los Angeles Times , Rick Schultz writes, “A remarkable run of major monuments in the classical-Romantic violin repertoire began in L.A. a few weeks ago when Joshua Bell played Bruch’s First Concerto. It signaled the start of what amounts to a crash course in the history of the 19th century violin concerto at the Hollywood Bowl (with a 20th-century American classic thrown in). On Thursday, Marin Alsop, music director of the Baltimore Symphony, conducts Gil Shaham in the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Then Leonard Slatkin, music director of the Detroit Symphony, takes on the Brahms Concerto with Vadim Repin on Aug. 4 and the Tchaikovsky Concerto with Leonidas Kavakos on Aug. 6. … But that’s not all. James Ehnes performs Samuel Barber’s Concerto with Bramwell Tovey, principal guest conductor of the Philharmonic at the Bowl, on Aug. 18.” In a “roundtable” made up of separate interviews, Alsop, Ehnes, Kavakos, Repin, Shaham, Slatkin, and Tovey offer their opinions on what makes the Beethoven, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky concertos stand the test of time, as well as newer concertos that audiences should know about.
Posted July 27, 2009
