Symphony shines

with Schubert's Ninth


By Jonathan A. Neufeld
For The Tennessean
May 01, 2009 10:25 AM

What a pleasure to hear our hometown symphony sound like new.

Guest conductor Günther Herbig transformed the Nashville Symphony on Thursday night. The symphony is normally excellent, of course, but under Herbig's baton, they played with an enthusiasm and clarity that sounded utterly fresh.

.....

Pianist Andrew Armstrong's Bartók sparkled and swayed. The third piano concerto is Bartók's most lyrically melodic. Armstrong leaned into the almost jazzy-sounding syncopations, popping the accented rhythms with a verve and a bright tone. Soloist and orchestra were extremely well matched. The second movement, Adagio religioso, again allowed Herbig and the orchestra to show textural delicacy as Armstrong made the most of sparse, shifting chords. The amount of expression that Armstrong is able to draw out of the material is remarkable. The woodwinds in the Poco più mosso were as crisp and tight as I've heard them.