Is it possible to play too well? Of such debates are great evenings made Then he asked the players to rise a second time, serving notice that the evening was as much about the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra as it was about his leadership of it. Sure enough, the concert comprised the best pure playing we have heard in Place des Arts this season. Surprised? (...). All I can say is that I heard a top, top ensemble. Right from the opening of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, the focus of the lower strings - at low volume - was impressive. Soloists spoke sweetly and ensembles were balanced. Lucid brass, jocose bassoons, burnished violins and violas, sassy trombones, all superbly coordinated. So fine was the soundscape that the thought stole over me: should Bartok sound more rough-and-tumble? Was this Hungarian music, or French? Of such debates are great evenings made. An athletic cheerleader in front of the Orchestre Métropolitain, YNS was perfectly in step with the Dutch musicians. They were giving him the detail he wanted. He did not need to plead for more. It might even be argued that the 18 who addressed themselves to Theo Verbey's so-called Conciso played too well, making this routine nine-minute exercise in neo-classicism seem better than it really was. Did they overdo it in Brahms's Violin Concerto? There was an abundance of detail that we rarely encounter on MSO nights. Never have I never heard the staccato swordplay of the finale realized with such clarity. Upright and implacable as ever, Viktoria Mullova, ostensibly the soloist, provided a stately obbligato for what I heard as a lively concerto for orchestra. The encore was the Fairy Garden finale of Ravel's Mother Goose Suite. It was like a bouquet of flowers. There was a big sustained ovation for this concert, presented by a Toronto organization, Show One. Get ready for show two: The Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev on March 14.
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