Most effectively performed were Richard Strauss’s sound effects in “Till.”
By URY EPPSTEINTamara Stefanovich(photo credit: IPO)Tamara StefanovichJerusalem ICCDecember 19Placing the heavyweight Brahms’s Symphony No. 3 at the beginning of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra’s recent concert and Richard Strauss’s “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks” at the concert’s end was an anti-audience change of the original program that had placed “Till” at the concert’s start, and Brahms at its end.Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C Minor, always more than welcome, of course, would have been even more so before the intermission, allowing the audience to let its profound impression to sink in, before being diluted by “Till.”Tamara Stefanovich performed the work with utmost sensitivity, admirably catching its, for Mozart, rare somber mood, as though profoundly identifying with his darker atmosphere. No two consecutive notes were ever played with similar volume, and her perfectly clear virtuosity in the cadence and the fast final movement was electrifying.Conducted by Kirill Petrenko, Brahms’s Symphony No. 3 was performed accurately – sometimes even too much so, at the expense of tempi and emotional excitement. Some refreshing excitement, though, became contagiously audible in the final, fast movement.Most effectively performed were Richard Strauss’s sound effects in “Till.”
