Sunday. July 14, 2024
Klein Music Tent, Aspen Music Festival and School, Aspen, Pitkin County, Colorado
Those who pigeonhole (not guilty m’lud) would find it tricky to countenance Jane Glover conducting Bartók (Baroque, early-Classical, Gilbert & Sullivan, yes) but here she was leading his Concerto for Orchestra in fine style, very well played by the Aspen Festival Orchestra (students and section principals of leading American orchestras) in a reading that was well-paced and -detailed, flexible, smilingly swung (second movement), soulfully passionate (third), and with an overall sure sense of direction and culmination. Another Concerto followed the interval, Beethoven’s ‘Triple’ for the instruments mastered by Messrs Bell, Isserlis and Denk. Individually and as a trio they were in top form, enjoying much camaraderie. Dame Jane set a lively tempo for the first movement, seized upon enthusiastically by the three soloists without sacrificing expression or subtlety. Beethoven’s sometimes-derided Opus 56 is a really good piece when brought off with such elan and with the orchestra characterfully involved. The slow movement was spaciously and eloquently unfolded, and if the Finale was on the nippy side for a polonaise, there was much joie de vivre on offer. The broadcast sound for this outdoor concert was excellent.