BSO Begins 2007 With Style

The Brahms Violin Concerto came first and it immediately impressed. Sonorous, gentile-gentilissimo, fresh, perfectly synchronized, homogenous, with absolute control, firm, crisp (but not without heart and emotion): it felt like immense gratification at the sudden appearance of greatness after plenty hard, perhaps less promising, labor. And that’s all before Henning Kraggerud ever even contributed a note. His opening notes might have been a little craggy but he turned it around into a performance that combined steely technique, great accuracy in all but a few spots, and an expressiveness that made the music appear slower, more lyrical, than his chosen tempi would have seem to make possible. Impetuous and aggressive/exciting were all those parts that didn't revel in heartrending lyricism. Kraggerud contributed much to that war-horse of violin concertos, making it a riveting occasion, no matter how many times we’ve heard it in concert.

Ronni Reich, BSO's 'True Romance': A Full-Hearted Affair (Washington Post, January 6) |
