Venerable Estonian conductor Neeme Järvi has done much to bring the work of his compatriot, Heino Eller, to the attention of classical audiences. Eller’s 5 Pieces for String Orchestra is a suite of pleasing micro-movements: a romance, two dances, a lullaby and the best-known of all, the homeland “Melody”. As you might expect, it’s all about the strings. There was a fullness achieved in long, heavy bowing: the late Romantic flavor was unambiguously present. Tonal contrasts could have been more drawn out in the first of the dances; the weightiness was achieved at the expense of a certain lightness. The Lullaby was rendered somewhat matter-of-factedly for what it was, a really rather beautifully spun melody, but more of the singing-like quality was brought out in the “Melody”.
Latvian violinist Baiba Skride made a solid debut at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall with Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto no. 1 in D major. The celebrated dream-like opening (tellingly, sognando in the score) came from a far away place, and was sparingly and alluringly played, conveying a sense of ethereal mystery. The sparing quality served her less well in some of the all-out passages that followed: they called for a more punched-out, importunate sound: the part about which David Oistrakh reports Prokofiev as saying “play it as though you’re trying to convince someone of something”. At times, in the first movement, I felt that her virtuosity could have been flung down with more abandon, but there was much rhythmic drive, some excitingly frenzied double-stops, and a strong visual line between her and the conductor, and by extension the orchestra. At the movement’s end, when the dreamlike state is restored, there is a moment of magical musical connection between harp, violin and flute. It sounds thoroughly silvery without being at all clichéd. I thought the silver here could have done with more polishing to bring out its shimmering quality.
The second movement Scherzo is as unforgiving a rhythmic tour de force as it is possible to get. Skride let rip rather more here, effectively mastering the illusion that the music is running away with itself, all the while retaining control. Tension was created effectively with eerie sliding scales. The third movement Moderato started out a little taut but unwound into full-blown lyricism. Occasionally I thought the sound could be pressed out more, massaged, as it were, until it almost hurts. There is an ache, a painfulness, in this movement, which needs to be given liberty to express itself.