Israeli violinist Hagai Shaham gave a fiery account of Jenő Hubay’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 3 in G minor at Friday’s opening concert of the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Stephen Gunzenhauser, who dedicated the performance to the memory of Dorothy Ann “Dot” Haley, 1986-1988 symphony board chairman, and also to the memory of Michael Mitchell, the artistic director of the Fulton Theater.
A crisp, delicious performance of Mozart’s Symphony No. 32 in G Major started off the program. It’s really an overture without an opera, and gave the string section an opportunity to shine.
But who needs and opera when you’ve got the Hubay concerto? The work, composed in 1906-07, is the virtuoso showpiece you would expect from a composer who was also an in-demand performer and an influential teacher, but also contains some remarkable orchestral writing that creates a real dialog between soloist and orchestra members, especially those in the woodwind section. The work contains many moments of romantic sweetness, especially in the contrasting high- and low-register melodies of the Adagio section, in which Shaham was almost duetting with himself. There was lots of Hungarian flavor throughout, especially in the Scherzo’s lively dances, and even a sense of 20th-century clash and tumult in the chromatic beginning of the last movement, which featured some especially acrobatic violin-playing from Shaham. He got a fully-deserved standing ovation for that performance.
The program concluded with a driving performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, a work that, through its surging beginning, through its second-movement funeral march, its lively yet intense third movement to its energetic finale, never lets up. In the symphony’s performance, one was always aware of this relentless sense of direction. Even when a single instrument was playing or one single note was being held, there was always the feeling of driving forward. The only performance problem I noted here were some weak entrances in the brass section.
The concerts continue today (Saturday, Oct. 4) at 3 and 8 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m.
