Around the world, Itzhak Perl man has been an audience favorite for decades, and his performance Wednesday with the Colorado Symphony was no exception.
Linchpin of the one-night- only event was his penetrating take on Mozart’s much-loved G-Major violin concerto — an ideal platform from which to experience the elegance, exactitude and sweet tenderness that mark Perlman’s tone and technique.
Always unassuming, the veteran virtuoso seems endearingly oblivious to his celebrity status . . . despite a prolonged standing ovation before he played a single note.
Returning to a full house at Boettcher Concert Hall, Perl man was as proficient and passionate in the concerto’s fiery, spirited passages as he was in its most lyrical melodies. Under the capable direction of associate conductor Scott O’Neil, he effortlessly transitioned from the heavily rhythmic first movement to a warm, exceedingly expressive reading of the slow, shimmering nocturne.
Sans airs or affections, he delivered smooth, soothing and lingering phrases with ease and spontaneity. And in the final Rondeau movement, Perl man’s serenade was underscored by the strings’ clear and unified pizzicato.
More Mozart selections on the program included a delicate, deeply felt reading of the composer’s sublime Adagio, K. 261 and a relaxed rendition of his inventive Rondo, K. 373. Along the way, Perlman and O’Neil struck just the right balance between emotional intensity and breezy playfulness.
Before intermission, O’Neil led the orchestra through the mysterious maze of Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120.
The diminuendo opening might have been slower and more deliberate for greater effect, and some passages in the first couple of movements lacked cohesion. But the menacing music of the strings and bassoons established the dark tenor of the piece overall, and the Scherzo movement was wonderfully energetic. Even as the tempos gained speed, O’Neil preserved within the feverish pace the symphony’s underlying expression of yearning and gloom.
It’s not until the finale that the sun finally bursts through — and upon fine unison playing by the trombones, O’Neil deftly increased the tempos twice more. The result was a swift and stirring coda followed by the orchestra’s unrestrained, virtuosic delivery of the explosive ending.
