Review of Gabriela’s performance of the Grieg Concerto with San Diego Symphony and Ruth Reinhardt at the Rady Shell.
”Venezuelan soloist Gabriela Martinez presided over the piece like a warm, smiling impresario, exchanging pleasantries with conductor Ruth Reinhardt and individual members of the orchestra. Martinez has a knowing, often thunderous technique, and she made the most familiar passages (the opening piano chords, for example) completely hers, and played into this space with a touch and projection that made it sound as if the Shell is her home hall…
This movement is a genuine dialogue between soloist and orchestra, and Martinez’s ability to control the emotional pacing between eruptive episodes of turbulent lyricism was compelling. The dancing rondo finale uses a refrain of character and affect as much as theme — opulent sheets of piano sonority alternated with brilliant and martial tutti declamations under Reinhardt’s baton, as symphony and soloist individualized melodies and ideas with a palpable, gripping sense of their own spontaneous gusto and affection for this music”
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