Well-crafted concert gets Milwaukee Symphony audience up and cheering

On paper, Friday morning’s Milwaukee Symphony program looked like a pretty standard format for an orchestral concert: a short opening piece, a concerto, and a major symphony.

But for listeners, this well-crafted, superbly delivered lineup of Barber’s “Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance,” cellist Truls Mørk's breathtaking delivery of Prokofiev’s Sinfonia Concertante, and a rousing performance of Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World"), all led by conductor Hans Graf, made up a fascinating, involving musical event.

Mørk blended technical brilliance with a beautiful, colorful sound, inflected with an almost vocal use of vibrato, playing with absolute command of the instrument. He delivered a stirring, soulful interpretation.

Graf and the orchestra supported Mork’s performance beautifully, with an interpretation full of lovely, articulate details.     

Conductor and orchestra gave a fresh, energized performance of Dvorak’s “New World Symphony,” putting familiar melodies firmly in the spotlight while underscoring their context in the whole. This was a crisp, well-crafted interpretation that relied on and made room for gorgeous solo playing within the orchestra, as well as finely honed section playing.

Part of the piece’s success lay in the use of dynamics – not just shifts in the ensemble’s volume, but in graceful, meaningful crescendos and diminuendos that pulled the audience. The performance won a cheering, standing ovation.

The concert opened with a dramatic, gripping rendition of the Barber, played with rhythmic and technical precision, constant musical motion and, in its thinnest textures, intimate conversations between individual instruments and seamless handoffs of ideas.  

This MSO performance will be repeated at 8 p.m. Saturday at Marcus Center's Uihlein Hall, 929 N. Water St. Limited tickets remain. Visit www.mso.org or call (414) 273-7206.