Kaupo Kikkas
Cellist Alban Gerhardt has a gift for lyrical playing.
German-born cellist Alban Gerhardt brought a rarely heard concerto to the Madison Symphony Orchestra — and triumphed in it.
William Walton’s Cello Concerto, performed Feb. 16-18 at Overture Hall, is the least-known of his three string concertos. It is an unconventional work in three movements, but consisting of two slow movements with a fast one in between, rather than the reverse. At first encounter, it can seem a craggy and even gruff work, but Gerhart’s gift for lyrical playing brought out the melodious lines along with the flamboyant ones. That emphasis gave the first movement a particularly rich beauty. Gerhardt displays such total musicality and artistic dedication he brings to life a work he obviously wants audiences to discover and understand.
For a Friday encore he played the Prelude from Bach’s Suite No. 6 for unaccompanied cello. He happens to be preparing an album of all six of these suites.
On either side of Gerhardt’s solo were two audience-pleasing masterpieces. The overture to Rossini’s Semiramide shows the composer in perhaps his best working of his opera prelude formula. Maestro John DeMain led the orchestra in no-holds-barred bravado, with a lot of lovely wind playing in evidence along the way.
The great Symphony No. 1 by Johannes Brahms grew out of long preparation. He knew that his public wanted him to prove himself the symphonic heir to Beethoven. The outcome, the first of his eventual four symphonies, is a determinedly monumental affair. At least in its massive wing movements, its elaborate expansion of sonata-form is a proclamation of symphonic mastery. The glorious main theme of its finale is one of the composer’s finest melodies. DeMain delivered these movements with weighty bluntness and thrust. But he also gave fair justice to the intervening two movements, notably the beautifully flowing second — with its ecstatic early passage for strings.
DeMain does not disdain the big-orchestra approach in his interpretation. He has at his disposal a particularly large complement of violins (17 firsts and 14 seconds), so he is able to generate quite a lush sound. To his credit, however, he maintained good balance and allowed the wind parts to come through clearly.
As a final demonstration of the soloist’s dedication, Gerhardt joined the orchestra’s cello section on Feb. 16 to play in the Brahms.