By Mel R. Wilhoit
Correspondent
Star quality was clearly the main feature at the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera’s concert Thursday evening at the Tivoli Theatre.
And the blazing light on stage was diminutive violinist Midori Goto — known as Midori, a child prodigy who performed with the New York Philharmonic at the ripe old age of 11. During the next decade she racked up an international career as an A-list concert soloist and recording artist.
This concert was a return engagement with the CSO, led by Music Director Robert Bernhardt.
But first — the birthday celebration. Had Robert Schumann lived, he would have been 200! Unfortunately he died at 46; fortunately his music didn’t. His “Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major” describes the countryside around the Rhine River where he had settled.
The first movement expresses confidence and joy with heroic themes and carefully sculpted dynamics. The second contained glorious playing by the horn section while the third movement, featuring clarinets and violas, was delicate and moving. In the fourth, a solemn chorale with Bach-like weightiness reflected the composer’s visit to Cologne Cathedral while the final (fifth) movement featured a festive, skipping dance.
Bernhardt led his forces in a spirited, polished and fulfilling work.
After the interval Midori performed Tchaikovsky’s “Violin Concerto in D Major, Op 35.” While it’s currently one of the most popular works for violin, it was originally deemed “unplayable.” When finally performed in public, the critics claimed the music beat the violin black and blue. Today, we call that dramatic.
Midori began the first movement with a barely audible tone of crystalline effect that floated to the back row. By turns she either coaxed sumptuous melodies from her rare 1734 instrument or tangoed with it while tossing off fiendish musical pyrotechnics. The orchestra provided a perfect partner for her and shared the standing ovation from a noticeably younger audience who experienced a night not soon to be forgotten.
The program will be repeated today at 8 p.m.