South Florida Classical Review

Julian Schwarz performed Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with Gerard Schwarz conducting the Palm Beach Symphony Sunday at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach.

Antonin Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor is the most often played work ever conceived for cello and orchestra. Every aspiring cello soloist has taken a shot at playing the opus, attempting to display his artistic bona fides. 

On Sunday afternoon at the Kravis Center, Julian Schwarz took his turn with the Palm Beach Symphony under the direction of his father Gerard Schwarz. The result in his season-opening program was not just another reading of a concert warhorse. Every bar was infused with freshness of spirit as if the players were discovering the score for the first time.

Gerard Schwarz’s enlivening statement of the orchestral introduction was marked by  taut rhythm and a large corporate string sound. From the younger Schwarz’s first entrance, his plush, clear tone was engulfing and easily audible, even above full orchestral tuttis. He phrased the first movement’s secondary subject with unusual spaciousness, which was characteristic throughout the performance. Schwarz was unafraid to vary the pulse to put his personal stamp on the music. Rather than mere indulgence, hie brought musicality and insight to every page. Vibrato was liberally applied and his agile command of the instrument proved impressive, especially in passages that reached the cello’s upper range.

Schwarz vividly brought forth the yearning nostalgia of the Adagio ma non troppo, taken at a leisurely pace yet never plodding. The dramatic interchanges between soloist and orchestra in mid movement were delineated with clarity.   The Allegro moderato finale, taken at a rapid clip, was infused with the spirit of a Slavonic dance. There was quiet restraint in the slower moments with the cellist lingering over phrases. 

Concertmaster Evija Ozolins’ solo matched Schwarz for sweetness of texture. The cellist’s sonority was brought down to a whisper in the final pages before the closing torrential outburst from the orchestra. The cadenza emerged organically, rather than a mere moment of display. There is a reason for this concerto’s popularity with musicians and audiences.  This performance was a full realization of a masterwork that retains that widespread appeal.

Gerard Schwarz has turned the Palm Beach Symphony into a highly responsive orchestral unit. There is strength across all sections with excellent players in the first chairs. Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Celebration for Orchestra, a combined overture-toccata, was given a high-voltage reading. Individual variants of the driving principal motif were given specific character and color.

Ravel’s orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition is an ensemble tour de force and the orchestra was fully equal to its demands. As in Schwarz’s 2021 iteration with the University of Miami’s Frost Symphony Orchestra, the performance was accompanied by projected art from the collection of the UM Lowe Art Museum, curated by Jill Deupi. Perhaps because the Kravis Center’s screen (behind the orchestra) and projection facilities are superior to those of Miami’s Arsht Center, the music-art mashup emerged more successfully. The projections had greater clarity, the colors more distinct. Most importantly, the music did not take a back seat to the multi media display.

Schwarz has conducted the Mussorgsky-Ravel panorama innumerable times and he brings both seasoned artistry and a distinct portrait in sound to each section of the work. Craig Morris’s rounded and clarion trumpet launched the “Promenade.” There was a sense of terror in Schwarz’s speedily paced “Gnomes.”

The saxophone solo of “The Old Castle” resounded with warmly mellow precision. “Tuilleries” and the ballet of the chickens sparkled. An  exact, cleanly articulated tuba solo in “Bydlo,’ enhanced Schwarz’s slow tread depicting the cattle’s reluctant march. 

He whipped up an orchestral frenzy for Mussorgsky’s depiction of the witch “Baba Yaga” and gave the slow central episode an appropriately spooky caste. Burnished brass introduced “The Great Gate at Kiev.” The Russian Orthodox chant episode had color and stateliness and the final climactic orchestral volleys carried immense impact. The entire performance was a demonstration of the great orchestral building initiative Schwarz has done with the Palm Beach ensemble.

The concert was launched with the Park Vista Striking Cobra High School Marching Band (in costume) filling the Kravis isles and Schwarz leading them and the orchestra in The National Anthem, raising the roof and, probably, setting a volume record for the hall.

Gerard Schwarz conducts the Palm Beach Symphony in Christopher Theofanidis’ Rainbow Body, Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7 and Brahms’ Violin Concerto with Leonidas Kavakos  7:30 p.m. December 10 at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach. palmbeachsymphony.org

Posted in Performances

2 Responses to “A double shot of Schwarzes as Palm Beach Symphony opens new season in terrific shape”

1. Posted Nov 11, 2024 at 8:15 pm by Jacqueline

   Spot on review in every aspect. Maestro Schwarz and the orchestra were wonderful. I have heard many of the greats perform the Dvorak masterpiece live over 5 decades (Rose, Rostropovich, Starker, Fournier, etc.) and this performance by the young Schwarz was ASTOUNDING!

2. Posted Nov 16, 2024 at 10:48 am by Sam LeBaudr

   Bravo, Bravo to the Schwarz’s.

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