NJ.com: ‘The strings are soaring’

NJ Advance Media reviews this weekend’s NJSO program, writing:

Beethoven's 6th is all about nature, and indeed the programmatic bird chirps and evocations of Arcadian, Germanic glades all could be heard. But most impressive was [Music Director Xian Zhang's] careful sensitivity to the piece's majestic architecture. Beethoven's epic romanticism can sometimes be abused as an excuse to just be big for the sake of effect.  Zhang made sure that the NJSO sounded full, but never blaring.

In the first movement, with the concise title, "Awakening of cheerful feelings on arriving in the country," you could feel a slow build in the pacing of the music. In an assured second movement, you could hear the crisp articulation of all the bucolic color and effects. All of this led naturally and gracefully to the fourth movement thunderstorm, which brings in the timpani and truly gave the effect of being in a mountain tempest.

In the final fifth movement (with another brief title) "Shepard's Song -- Happy, grateful feeling after the storm," Zhang emphasized the cellos, playing the gallant melodies that begin to bring the piece to the close. You could hear the soloist, [Alban] Gerhardt, thoroughly incorporated with the whole cello section. It was an artful touch of programing by the Music Director that brought the concert beautifully full circle. 

» Read the full review at www.nj.com

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