With flowers blooming, trees budding and spring in full swing, it’s hard to imagine a more suitable time to experience “The Four Seasons,” especially when it receives as thrilling a performance as it did Friday evening.
The Colorado Symphony took a break from its usual repertoire, essentially Haydn to the present, and went back in time to focus on two of the giants of the baroque era — Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi.
The first half focused on a pair of Bach’s masterworks — the “Brandenburg” Concerto No. 1 in F major, BWV 1046, and Suite No. 1 in C major, BWV 1066.
Both works were well-played, but the concert rose to a whole other level when guest conductor Scott Yoo put down his baton and picked up his violin on the second half, serving as conductor and soloist for Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons,” a collection of four concertos.
He is a superb violinist, with flawless technique and appealing tone. But what most impresses is his passion, an all-out, go-for-broke style that ignited this audience-grabbing interpretation.
But as much as it is about virtuosic showmanship, the solo role in this work is also about dialogue, something Yoo took seriously, standing right next to players in the orchestra during certain key interchanges.
For this program, the orchestra was reduced to a more appropriate chamber size, which required each musician to take a more active, interactive role than usual. It’s a dynamic Yoo clearly knows well as music director of the well-respected (though dormant) Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra.
Through eye contact and the sheer elemental force of his playing, not to mention some obviously intense work in rehearsal, the orchestra became a suitably fleet, lithe ensemble, playing this music with the organic freedom it requires.
But with that freedom also came discipline — clean, spot-on articulations and, perhaps most important, nuanced dynamic control that helped Yoo achieve exciting interpretative contrasts.
Memorable moments abounded, some coming in unexpected places, such as the delicate slow moment of “Spring,” where the easy-to-ignore solo motifs of the viola were heard to proper effect.
The program will be repeated at 2:30 p.m. today.
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
