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Health & Fitness

Prokofiev with "Pow" and a Brilliant Soloist at GSO Concert

Transcending itself and its own past performances seems to be a pattern with Greenwich Symphony, which presented a concert of utter musical majesty last weekend.  With the North American premiere of a 1946 Symphony, and the brilliant piano soloist Frederic Chiu, internationally renowned as the greatest interpreter of Prokofiev works, the orchestra stunned an overflow audience on Sunday afternoon.

 

"Symphony" by Herbert Zabinski, whose son Dr. Michael Zabinski discovered the score only recently, was lushly scored, opening with a clarinet (which in fact, the Prokofiev did as well), growing persuasive and expansive in Molto vivaceAssai lento, muted, reminded in his orchestration of the English composer of the same period Brian Easdale and his ballet "The Red Shoes."  Ending with Veemente (presto), the work is indeed a musical "find", and was beautifully interpreted by the musicians. Zabinski, an Israeli, wrote nothing of the strife attending the end of World War II, but composed a work of sheer musical beauty.

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Mr. Chiu greeted conductor David Gilbert and concertmaster Krystof Wytek, and sat down in  an interesting chair to astound.  His gorgeous hands carried out magical runs and percussive dynamics  in Prokofiev's Concerto #3 in C Major, the fast passages taken at a breathtaking pace. The work goes from clanging, banging chords to dreamlike and opaque passages, always with a discernible melody uniting with unexpected outbursts of dissonance. The large orchesetra and soloist were in perfect synchrony with each other in the performance of a lifetime. Roaring cheers and bravos greeted the brilliant Mr. Chiu and the orchestra.

Closing with Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, a well-known and beloved work, the GSO lulled the audience after the musical challenges of the Prokofiev with splendid dynamics throughout. For a schedule of upcoming concerts, to to www.GreenwichSym.org.

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                                           --Linda Phillips

Linda Phillips musical reviews in the Greenwich Post and Greenwich Citizen have won 3 best column awards from the Connecticut Press Club.  Her column was nominated for a Pulitzer prize in Criticism in 2003.

 

 

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