Star-Ledger: ‘A tasty teaser that left us wanting more’

Apr 11, 2016

The Star-Ledger writes:

Trailers are usually better than the movies they preview.

They tease us with possibilities and are not required to provide the heavy lifting of deep, prolonged engagement.

So as a trailer — or overture — to the Xian Zhang era of the New Jersey Symphony, which starts later this year, the Chinese maestra's concerts this weekend must be seen as a success. At NJPAC on Friday night, Zhang — who will formally begin as Artistic Director this fall — won over the crowd with both her remarks and her musicianship. And like any good trailer or overture, it left you wanting more.

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[Tchaikovsky's Marche Slave] is a cracker-jack curtain-raiser — and Zhang played it accordingly. Employing her theatrical conducting style, poised on the balls of her feet, often leaping with arms outstretched and making compact but forceful baton gestures, Zhang coaxed precise pizzicato playing from the strings, various emotional shadings from the woodwinds, and Wagnerian crescendos from the horns.

There was no shortage of bombast, and yet the dynamics and balance of all the instruments and sections felt carefully calibrated. The piece showed off the orchestra's potential, and it rightly earned a vigorous hand from the audience.

Next up was the violin concerto by American composer Samuel Barber. Zhang gave a brief but eloquent spoken intro of both the piece and the soloist, Jennifer Frautschi, who played the piece from memory. Zhang used the score but clearly knows and savors Barber's 1940 concerto.

This was most evident in the piece's second movement. The andante opens with a fine solo for oboe, which Robert Ingliss played with great sensitivity. As the moment continued, Zhang elicited fine playing from the orchestra as a whole.

Also Frautschi brought even greater color to her violin playing in the andante. After a silvery tone in the first movement, the American soloist conjured a dazzling range of sounds, varying from sweet to downright astringent, from her 1722 Stradivarius. Zhang balanced Frautschi's playing with the orchestra's, and the result was a stirring, deeply felt passage of music. Barber can often feel starchy or overly formal — here it felt immediate and deeply felt.

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Tchaikovsky's 4th is a crowd-pleasing score. Again, after the rousing finale, Zhang received a standing ovation — which paired well with the one she received on her entrance. It was a good night for the maestra, who impressed in one other regard. After the first movement of the Barber concerto, the NJPAC audience applauded. Technically, this is a no-no. But Zhang didn't scold the crowd; she acknowledged it with a thankful gesture and quickly got back to work.

The message was clear, and after the marvelously played second movement, the audience recognized this with appropriate silence. A good music director isn't just a conductor; she's also a communicator and a leader.

Read the full review.

RELATED: WQXR features Xian Zhang

Read what this week's concertgoers are saying about the NJSO's next music director on Concert Coda.

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