Violinist Phillip Levy Charms Us!
by
Lyn Bronson
[This review will appear on Monday November13, 2006 in the Salinas
Californian]
Violinist Phillip Levy
and guest conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni shared the limelight last night at
Sherwood Hall for the Monterey Symphony’s November series of concerts. Although
Zeitouni was making his Monterey Symphony and California debut, Levy is well
known to Monterey Symphony audiences, for he served for six years as the
Monterey Symphony’s concertmaster and has also appeared previously as soloist.
The evening’s program opened
with Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 55 in E-flat major, titled “The Schoolmaster in
Love.” Zeitouni revealed new depths in this charming symphony and impressed us
especially in the beautifully scored second movement, Adagio, ma
semplicimente, where we heard an elegant and moving performance of the theme
and variations depicting the school master’s infatuation. In the Menuetto
movement that followed, we heard a lovely trio performance by concertmaster Thi
Nguyen, second principal Bryn Albanese and cellist Robin Bonnell, and in the
final movement we heard some top notch playing by the wind section that was
spectacular.
Speaking of elegance, Phillip
Levy’s performance of the Mozart Concerto No. 5 in A major was elegance
personified. His warm rich tone, precise intonation (even in the highest
positions or in harmonics), and his feeling for Mozartian style was fabulous. In
the first movement cadenza, even the most difficult passages were played with
simplicity and refinement. Often string players sound slightly out of tune when
they play octaves and intervals in double stops, but Levy’s pitch was dead right
on, and his tone was never forced, but always clear and musical. After a tender
and sensitive performance of the slow movement (with another suave cadenza),
Levy blew us away in the final movement where we were charmed by the Gypsy
interludes and the dramatically startling chromatic scoops in the strings that
reminded us of Don Giovanni.
After Levy’s great performance
of the Mozart concerto, the bland work that followed, Respighi’s Ancient Airs
and Dances, Suite No. 3, was about as exciting as a firecracker on the fifth of
July. However, the final work on the program, Respighi’s Trittico
botticelliano, effectively showed what a skillful orchestrator Respighi was.
It made a fine effect. We were treated to one encore — Piazzolla’s “Death of an
Angel” that was jazzy and lots of fun.
