Lorenzo Viotti, one of the hottest properties on the international conducting circuit, made his eagerly anticipated COVID-delayed debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Disney Hall on May 8. Suave, confident, and impeccably prepared, he more than justified the high expectations and had the orchestra firing on all cylinders.
Currently the principal guest conductor of the Netherlands Philharmonic, Viotti led an ambitious and vibrant program that paired two substantial and radically different masterpieces of late Romanticism. One rarely performed, and the other a standard repertory item, they were composed only 10 years apart. But they sounded worlds apart, and Viotti approached each one with a fresh and idiomatic flair.
Sergei Rachmaninoff’s venerable Second Symphony, completed in 1907, could almost be called a warhorse, so frequently does it show up in concert halls. With gorgeous tunes, luscious orchestration, and clear thematic development, it looks fondly backward to the nineteenth-century tradition of Rachmaninoff’s idol and mentor Tchaikovsky.
Karol Szymanowski’s rarely heard First Violin Concerto, from 1916, discards the conventions of the sonata-form concerto entirely, embracing an impressionistic, modernist aesthetic based on shimmering changes in color, timbre, and the interplay of disconnected, fragmentary motifs.
Georgian-German violinist Lisa Batiashvili, well known to LA Phil audiences, proved the perfect soloist for this challenging work of fantasy and poetry. She illuminated the eclectic and constantly changing patterns and moods, making beautiful sense of the sonic chaos. The Concerto presents the soloist (and the entire string section) with immense technical challenges — extended passages in the highest register, harmonics, playing on the bridge — that Batiashvili surmounted with apparent ease and aplomb. Warm and plush, her tone suited the score’s nervous tenderness.
Maestro Viotti was a sensitive and responsive partner. He followed Batiashvili’s lead with subtle support, never allowing the orchestra to overpower her, but still brought out the dazzling details of Szymanowski’s intricate and delicate orchestration.
An ardent Polish patriot and one of the leaders of the avant-garde Young Poland movement, Szymanowski (1882–1937) spent much of his life in Paris, where he (like so many others) came under the spell of Igor Stravinsky.
A contemporary Polish poem describing a fantastic and archaic setting inhabited by magical birds and goddesses inspired the Concerto. “There is much that is new,” Szymanowski said, “but also something of a return to the old.”
An expanded orchestral palette — percussion including snare and bass drums, cymbals, glockenspiel, tambourine, and triangle, plus two harps, piano, and celesta — surrounds the fleeting melodic phrases with a glowing, gently vibrating halo of sound, supported by gentle fanfares elegantly delivered by the LA Phil’s trumpets and horns.
Raised in a Franco-Italian musical family in Switzerland, Viotti brought to his interpretation a keen understanding of the strange brew of cosmopolitan stylistic elements Szymanowski assembled. In a superlative performance, he gave the Concerto a coherence and unity extremely difficult to achieve.
Finding a way to make Rachmaninoff’s gigantic and very overexposed Second Symphony sound fresh and new is no easy task — especially in the uncut hour-long version Viotti conducted. Many listeners may be haunted by the memory of Eric Carmen’s “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again,” set to the lyrical theme from the Symphony’s third movement.
But Viotti did find a way, connecting with a clearly inspired and responsive orchestra to deliver perhaps the best performance I have heard in many moons. This was a lean, muscular, fast-paced, and vigorous Rach — no longueurs, dragging tempi, or sickly sweetness. Viotti varied the dynamic levels with theatrical grace, achieving stunning pianissimo effects and building carefully to the emotional climaxes.
At the opening, the basses intoned the recurring seven-note motto theme in chilling unison, setting the stage for a drama dominated by LA Phil’s superb strings. In the third movement, clarinetist Boris Allakhverdyan gave the “money” theme a restrained and soulful cast. In his conducting gestures, Viotti is precise and athletic, easy to follow and in complete command, achieving a smooth and unified blend of sound.
Viotti stands out from the parade of guest conductors who have been appearing at Disney Hall for his unique combination of passion, discipline, and sheer talent. Judging by their unusually enthusiastic reaction at the concert’s end, the members of this great orchestra like him, too.
