Over the past four decades, violinist Dmitry Sitkovetsky, now 60, has built up a reputation as one of classical music's elite virtuosos and has been consistently engaged to perform with the world's very finest orchestras from Berlin to Chicago, from Vienna to St Petersburg.
Dmitry Sitkovetsky plays Mozart during his recent collaboration with the BSO.
To hear him perform again in Bangkok on his precious, powerful sounding and sweet-toned Stradivarius was therefore a privilege for all those present in the Thailand Cultural Centre on Aug 8. This concert, in which he appeared with the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, was billed as one of this year's musical highlights, and so it proved to be.
Two years ago Sitkovetsky wowed a Thai audience with the mighty Sibelius concerto, but for the ultra-refined, all-Mozart programme earlier this month he directed the entire evening's proceedings alone, thus allowing the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra the time and space to explore and forge a more intimate, holistic and rewarding chemistry between themselves through the overture to Don Giovanni, Violin Concerto No.5 In A-major (Turkish), and Symphony No.40 In G-minor. This concentrated approach yielded rich musical rewards, the audience clearly realising they were witness to something special.
Maestro Sitkovetsky possesses considerable charisma on stage and wears his warm heart on his sleeve, bringing out the extremes of drama in Mozart at the same time as he exerts a measured, careful control over his forces. This is important for such an exacting repertoire where the musicians have to be collectively "in the moment" at all times in order to achieve a clean ensemble delivery and absolute precision.
The terrifying opening chords of Don Giovanni immediately plunged the hall into an atmosphere of high drama. Quoting directly the pivotal moment towards the end of that opera, when the notorious protagonist's festivities are rudely interrupted at his own dinner table, was how he chose to begin the proverbial musical feast at the TCC. With only 14 violins, four violas, four cellos, two double-basses, plus the usual classical complement of woodwind/brass/timpani, the chamber orchestra-sized BSO worked as a tightly knit unit. Swirling, hushed, rising/falling minor scales established a high level of focus, segueing into the jubilant molto allegro where the rapid, scurrying passage work was dispatched with confidence.
Exchanging the baton for his "Ex-Reiffenberg" 1717 Stradivarius (a "good year" according to the soloist himself), Sitkovetsky returned to the platform for the main attraction: Mozart's last, longest and finest violin concerto. The opening movement features the tempo marking allegro aperto, which is employed frequently in Mozart's operas. Implying a broadness and openness, the majestic expanse of the movement was amply explored by Sitkovetsky. The spellbinding wizardry of Kreisler's cadenzas in this and the other movements would have been worth the price of admission alone, and one was reminded of another Russian Jewish émigré and violin-doyen who once played on the very same 1717 Strad: Nathan Milstein.
Sitkovetsky established an easy, uninhibited rapport with the ranks of the BSO which was likewise a joy to observe. The longing, opening tutti of the Adagio was beautifully phrased, for example, whilst exquisite moments of tender harmonic poignancy at the heart of the movement were given all the freedom needed. In contrast, the Rondeau finale's central section features exotic (almost comic) elements which give the work its famous nickname. Far from approaching these explosive passages with anything like "kid gloves", the percussive col legno of the cellos/basses and searing chromatic surges elsewhere were possessed of a controlled abandon. Meanwhile, the five statements of the outer Rondo form were introduced neatly by front-desk strings alone alongside the soloist.
The audience made it clear that an encore was in order, and Sitkovetsky duly obliged: "Mozart didn't compose anything for violin-solo, so now I shall play Bach," he told us.
The heavenly Largo from the C Major Solo Sonata cast a sublime calmness. It is one thing to play one of J.S. Bach's Sonata Da Chiesa in a reverberant church (as was originally most probable), but quite another to fill a massive modern concert venue such as the TCC. The level of skill involved, both technical and musical, was stunning.
Studies at the Moscow Conservatory and Juilliard School in New York (with pedagogue Ivan Galamian) tend to provide a musical grounding which goes way beyond pure technique, and Sitkovetsky's all-round pedigree was given another suitable platform to express itself with a vigorous reading of that most iconic of all symphonies, No.40 In G-minor. The string section shone impressively as it negotiated one universally recognisable theme after another with palpable enjoyment, whilst single flute and other woodwind pairings did themselves proud in their exposed writing, with the two horns in particular deserving of special mention for the accuracy of their particularly high parts in the otherwise benign Trio section.
The ground-breaking development section of the galloping finale began with an in-tune BSO as it hurtled in unison through all 12 notes of the chromatic scale save, of course, the tonic. G-natural itself had the last word as emphatically ringing open-strings prompted the TCC to erupt into most enthusiastic applause.
