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arts entertainmentPerforming Arts

Review: Dallas Symphony and Fabio Luisi team up with violinist James Ehnes in stunning Elgar

Thursday’s program, which also included works by Schumann and Adolphus Hailstork, followed an earlier chamber music concert.

Audience members at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s concert Thursday at the Meyerson Symphony Center were greeted with new entry protocols. With COVID-19 cases surging across North Texas, the DSO now requires patrons 12 and older to show either proof of vaccination or a recent negative test. Patrons can also take a free rapid antigen test on site.

Thursday’s program was highlighted by a performance of Elgar’s Violin Concerto, with violinist James Ehnes. The DSO also featured Ehnes in a chamber music concert on Tuesday.

With a tonal palette ranging from mahogany-rich to honey-sweet, Ehnes opted for a suitably romantic approach to the concerto. He passionately attacked the first movement, pushing ahead dangerously or lingering before crucial downbeats.

Violinist James Ehnes (standing, right) performs with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under...
Violinist James Ehnes (standing, right) performs with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under the direction of conductor Fabio Luisi at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, Jan. 13, 2022. They were performing Elgar’s Concerto in B minor for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 61.(Tom Fox)

In the slow movement, he unspooled seemingly endless lines with a singing vibrato, occasionally adding a pleasant touch of portamento. The third movement allowed Ehnes to show off his technique in rapid double stops, skittering licks and seesawing leaps between registers.

Led by music director Fabio Luisi, the orchestra matched Ehnes in expressive freedom and helped capture the drama of the piece, swinging between white-hot intensity and tender lyricism.

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After intermission came American composer Adolphus Hailstork’s Epitaph for a Man Who Dreamed. Written in tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., it was a fitting inclusion on the program, given the upcoming holiday.

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Epitaph begins with strings alone. Lush textures slowly build, then quickly subside. Winds and brass later join in, and tolling off-stage chimes deepen the somber mood, eventually leading to a stirring climax. Luisi coaxed burnished sounds from the orchestra, which rose admirably to the occasion.

In Schumann’s First Symphony, Luisi assiduously balanced the parts, ensuring that important details came through clearly. He also drew out the fantastical imagination of Schumann’s music with bold tempo changes.

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Yet the orchestra sometimes had trouble staying together when Luisi stretched time. Tempos were mainly judicious, though the third movement scherzo could have benefited from a tempo a few notches faster, letting the earthy music dance more.

Tuesday’s chamber music program mixed a repertory staple and a new selection.

James Newton Howard is a well-known film composer — his credits include Pretty Woman and The Dark Knight — who also writes music for the concert hall. His 2018 sextet They Have Just Arrived at This New Level takes its title from a painting by American artist Chris Johanson containing the sentence.

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The 15-minute work moves among several distinct sections, with a great deal of dialogue and close counterpoint between the instruments. Though rooted in tonality, the score also features piquant dissonances. Prokofiev seems to be an influence in dark and biting episodes.

Along with Ehnes, violinist Alexander Kerr, violist Meredith Kufchak, cellist Jeffrey Hood, flutist David Buck and clarinetist Stephen Ahearn played with assurance and considerable rhythmic dexterity.

Also calling for an unusual assortment of instruments, Beethoven’s Septet in E flat major is generally charming and sunny. Ehnes and Kufchak were joined by cellist Theodore Harvey, bassist Nicolas Tsolainos, clarinetist Gregory Raden, hornist Alexander Kienle and bassoonist Ted Soluri.

Violinist James Ehnes (left) performs Beethoven's Septet in E flat major with members of the...
Violinist James Ehnes (left) performs Beethoven's Septet in E flat major with members of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in a chamber music concert at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, Texas, Jan. 11, 2022.(Allison Slomowitz / Special Contributor)

The musicians brought out the conversational nature of the work, skillfully passing melodies among themselves. They also shaped phrases naturally, underscoring harmonic subtleties.

Pacing was mostly well-timed, though the breakneck speed of the last movement sometimes challenged the group’s coordination. Ehnes tossed off nimble passagework with ease, but tended to overplay in loud sections, roughening his tone and marring his intonation.

Program notes on the music would have been helpful for audiences, especially for Howard’s sextet.

Details

Repeats at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Meyerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora St. $34 to $164. 214-849-4376, dallassymphony.org.

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