Star-Ledger reviews ‘Lacombe & Gluzman’

The Star-Ledger’s Ronni Reich praised the NJSO’s “assured performance” of works by Tchaikovsky, Bernstein and Berlioz at its “Lacombe & Gluzman” performance on October 24 at bergenPAC in Englewood. Music Director Jacques Lacombe conducted; violinist Vadim Gluzman returned to NJSO stages for Bernstein’s Serenade for Violin and Orchestra.

Reich writes:

Vadim Gluzman proved a well-chosen soloist for Bernstein’s Serenade for Violin and Orchestra, with a warm, romantic sensibility that complemented the work’s lyrical outpourings and offset its moments of angularity and discord ... The orchestra came in soundly but deferentially as alternating jovial and emphatic passages illustrated duality, with Gluzman fearlessly digging into double-stopped lines.

...

For all the care employed in the lead-up to the finale, it was especially rewarding to hear a loose, fully committed performance of the rustic, playful, jazz-tinged music of the party band that interrupts the philosopher characters on which most of the work focuses. A duet with principal cellist Jonathan Spitz also stood out for its elegance. Throughout, Lacombe led a well-coordinated and dynamic performance.

The orchestra brought out [the] anguish [of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony], building to feverish heights and dark, quaking depths illustrating seemingly insurmountable destiny ...

Read the full review at nj.com.