Alisa Weilerstein
REVIEW: Youthful brilliance and energy abound with NYO2 under Rafael Payare at Carnegie Hall
From Seen and Heard International
By Rick Perdian
What a sound the NYO2 produced at its Carnegie Hall concert. If you were listening blindfolded, a reasonable guess would have been that you were hearing any one of several fine American orchestras. Only the energy might give away that the players ranged in age from 14 to 17.
Conductor Rafael Payare undoubtedly gets the credit for transforming the young musicians into such a noteworthy ensemble in a matter of days. He is a natural, no doubt due to his experience playing the horn in El Sistema, the Venezuelan social action music program to which he still devotes his talents and energy.
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Cellist Alisa Weilerstein played with her accustomed technical prowess and depth of expression in the Shostakovich. Even at her most tender and lyrical, as in the Moderato, her tone was tinged with a heartache perfectly attuned to the emotional core of the work. The Cadenza was a riveting display of virtuosic technical flights and soaring, airy melodies. Clock-like precision and intensity were the hallmarks of the NYO2’s performance, and Weilerstein’s passionate playing, abetted by some stunning moments from the strings and woodwinds, propelled the Cello Concerto to its jubilant end.
Weilerstein has made a specialty of Bach’s solo suites, which she has performed, recorded and woven together in FRAGMENTS, her multi-season solo cello project. (review here.) As an encore, she performed the Sarabande from the Cello Suite No.4. She transfixed the audience with the expression and insight with which she spun its lyrical melodies. This Bach gem was a contemplative, restful reprieve after the emotional tumult of the Shostakovich.