“This weekend, Jaap van Zweden concludes his tenure as music director of the Dallas Symphony with performances of perhaps the most famous work in the orchestra’s repertoire: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony,” writes Brian Reinhart in Tuesday’s (5/22) Dallas Observer. “But there’s another piece on the program, a major world premiere…. The composer, Jonathan Leshnoff [in photo], describes writing for the DSO, for van Zweden and for a concert that ends with Beethoven as three ‘grand slam home run intimidation factors.’ … The piece is his Violin Concerto No. 2, written especially for … concertmaster Alexander Kerr.… The orchestra gave the composer carte blanche to write anything he wished. The result … reflects Leshnoff’s longtime fascination with ancient Jewish mysticism…. Leshnoff explains that in the process of creating something new, the creator needs a flash of inspiration … ‘when the entire story is embedded in one single thought, that is represented in Jewish thought in a concept called chochmah, which translates as “wisdom” but is deeper than that.… From two notes, these weeping somber notes, Alex is able to spin this melody.… My credo is to take people on a journey,’ he says.”
Posted May 24, 2018
