[/media-credit]Conductor Joana Carneiro was "elegant, graceful, expressive and energetic" - what's left to sa
It was a night of great chemistry.
At Boettcher Concert Hall on Friday, guest conductor Joana Carneiro and cellist Alban Gerhardt made magic in works by Tchaikovsky and Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov.
“Mariel” for cello and orchestra is Golijov’s tribute to a friend whose sudden passing inspired profound grief, as well as remembrance of her vivacity. The Portuguese conductor and German soloist seamlessly depicted the work’s waves of deeply moving melodic lines.
In particular, Carneiro’s elegant, musically intuitive direction drew forth from the Colorado Symphony Orchestra a muted, beautifully haunting accompaniment that topped off Gebhart’s emotive rendering of the work’s absorbing, Brazilian themes.
Complementary to Golijov’s approximately 14-minute piece were Tchaikovsky’s “Variations on a Rococo Theme” for cello and orchestra, Op. 33. Here, the notably warm tone of Gebhardt’s cello – made by Venetian Matteo Gofriller in the late European Renaissance – lent luster and shine to the work’s poignant passages.
Upon the solemn, subdued opening, Gebhardt demonstrated tremendous technical control in the Rococo Variations’ bursts of brilliant virtuosity, culminating in a breathless, fiery finale.
The program opened with Debussy’s “Petite Suite,” comprising four short dance movements. Carneiro’s graceful, expressive and energetic reading of the gently flowing work achieved just the right balance between soft sentimentality and a brisk, forward momentum. The cellos’ hushed plucking and the flutes’ soaring solos were especially notable.
After intermission, the orchestra delved into Rachmaninoff’s variegated Symphonic Dances, Op. 45. The concert repeats today at 7:30 p.m.
