NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OF UKRAINE
FEBRUARY 1997
MARAT'S BRUCH BOND JUST OUR CUP OF TEA
Marat Bisengaliev and his daughter Aruhan, meaning 'soul of the Empress
The impact rocketed us out of our seats like a Sputnik.'No, our conductor is the Sputnik,' said a musician in the interval. He and the other 91 members of the former Soviet Union's first orchestra were in no doubt about what Theodore Kuchar — elegant and expressive — wanted of them. They responded with a delivery that left us reeling. I have rarely seen standing ovations from a Worthing audience.
Nor was there any letup as we got two of Dvorak's Slavonic Dances, brass, timpani and percussion rampant. Likewise in Dvorak's New World Symphony No 9, which acquired new perspective under Kuchar's baton. But, wait, there is more — the soloist Marat Bisengaliev playing Max Bruch's Violin Concerto, that most exquisite of all violin works. You sensed a presence as he walked on with his long, shiny black hair and broad porcelain Slavic features, and knew something dramatic would happen. His fiery, breathtaking technique achieved an uplifting performance that went straight to the heart. There was a tangible rapport between him and Kuchar; they had worked together before.
Winner of countless prestigious awards, Marat plays an 18th-century Italian violin borrowed from a London connoisseur. He was forced to leave his Russia when he settled in England in 1989. He now lives with his English wife and daughter in deepest Yorkshire, where he runs his own residential Russian Virtuoso Violin summer school. Next Worthing Symphony concert is on Monday, March 31, at 3pm with Vanessa Latarche as piano soloist. Tickets on 01903 820500.
Janet Lawrence
|
