Violinist Armstrong a Winner all-the-way With LA Chamber
REVIEW…
Young, lithe, violinist Nigel Armstrong stole the hearts of the packed house at Alex Theatre in Glendale Saturday night with his taut performance of Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 in G-major performed with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. The 21 year-old, recently graduated from the Colburn School of Performing Arts is now studying at The Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. He used his storehouse of bowing technique and ample musicality to give an appropriately vigorous and youthful version of the Mozart piece that Mozart composed at age 17.
The evening was dedicated, at least mostly, to the music of Mozart with the LACO principal cellist, Andrew Shulman, making his debut with the orchestra as conductor. Shulman began the evening performance with Mozart’s Symphony No. 29 in A-major and closed with William Walton’s Sonata for Strings, but the centerpiece was the Mozart Violin Concerto, serving also as Armstrong’s debut with this orchestra.
It was not Armstrong’s initial appearance in Southern California as a soloist, though: that distinction is held by the Burbank Philharmonic where he was awarded the Hennings-Fischer Young Artist Competition in 2010.
His latest accomplishment was receiving Fourth Prize in the 14th International Tchaikovsky Competition, a dramatic achievement for an American violinist, one that has been compared to bringing home an Olympic gold medal. Winning at competitions is not new for Armstrong. Since his debut as a soloist at age 10, he has been a consistent competition winner. That award-winning style was on view in Glendale as his flexible, nimble fingers and strong bowing guided his confident performance.
His burgeoning talent was seen particularly in the first-movement cadenza, written, or rather framed, by noted musicologist/composer/author Robert Levin. He nailed it, and he knew it. The cadenza, a kind of jazz invention on the Mozart crafted theme, was given a light-hearted, exhuberant reading. I would argue that his tone was a bit thin in the meatier parts. Never mind. There’s plenty of time.
Armstrong encored with John Corigliano’s “Stomp”, a modern work that brought laughter to the audience, and a second round of long-lasting applause, the same as occurred following his playing of the Mozart Violin Concerto.
Shulman’s conducting debut was less auspicious. The LACO ensemble was not unblemished in the Mozart Symphony No. 29 as lazy entrances and an over-enthusiastic bass section marred the performance. The Walton Sonata, heard after an intermission, and following the Armstrong debut, seemed uninteresting.
By Bill Peters
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