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| Conductor Honna Tetsuji - Photo: Fukui Takaya |
On Friday evening the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, in Saigon as part of their Vietnam tour, offered us both his Violin Concerto and First Symphony, with Tamaki Kawakubo as the violin soloist and Tetsuji Honna conducting.
Ms. Kawakubo offered us a silken, refined rendition of the concerto, as if teaching her auditors another way to listen to this august composer. There was no barn-storming, and certainly no question of the soloists fighting against the orchestra. Rather than rampage through this well-known score, she let her silvery tones inveigle their way into our hearts.
As a result, you felt, the orchestra had to moderate its energy, and it was only in the symphony, in the concert’s second half, that they were finally able to let themselves go. Now the wonderful music seethed out of them, both sonorous and precise, magnificent and transparent.
The symphony’s second movement was full of Grecian light and warmth, as it should be. Conductor Tetsuji Honna’s pacing and modulations were beautifully managed, with transitions from light to shade expertly handled.
The fourth movement was appropriately stupendous. The magical moments before the arrival of the big theme were magical indeed, and the stately melody when it came couldn’t have been better articulated. The return of the magical phrases towards the end of the work couldn’t do other than bring a joyous tear to the eye.
This was a stunning and, above all, a lovable rendition of a deeply lovable work. The full house responded with appropriate enthusiasm, and the Japanese players seemed clearly, and rightly, aware of what a very fine performance they had just come up with.
