Press praise NJSO’s ‘breathtaking season opener’
Press have praised Music Director Xian Zhang and the NJSO’s Opening Weekend performances with pianist Jeremy Denk. NJ Advance Media writes:
Zhang and the Jersey band were joined by soloist Jeremy Denk and his Steinway grand piano. The two were in synch right from the start. Denk brilliantly executed the opening arpeggios, and then Zhang hit the gas pedal with full-speed ahead tempi which the orchestra responded to with muscular playing -- the woodwinds sounding particularly robust.
The quieter lyric moments were lovely, too, with Denk's high octave notes displaying a glass-like placidity. Most impressive in this movement was the give-and-take in Denk and Zhang's collaboration: Denk's playing never competed with the orchestra, and the dynamism of the two forces gave the 20-minute allegro the heroic spirit that the score demands.
Blasting News writes:
Which is the more impressive: when the seventy or eighty onstage musicians reel-in all their collective power to utter a symphonic “whisper” or when they go at full throttle, blaring brasses blasting and all six percussionists hammering away? Under [Music Director] Xian Zhang’s molten baton, the Orchestra played unerringly with crisp attack and superb dynamics.
Especially eerie was the violin section’s evocation of rattling cadaveric bones in the finale of “Symphonie fantastique”—one of those how’d-they-do-that moments.
Utterly thrilling ... [Zhang’s] full-bodied signals and gestures eke sheer beauty and power from the Orchestra ... the audience thanked her and the magnificent ensemble with a well-deserved standing ovation.
NJArts.net writes:
Zhang’s vision for the Symphonie fantastique was not only riveting, but, in fact, complete interpretive and orchestral perfection ...
A complete success, the work saw no section favored over the other by Zhang. Everyone received equal attention to create an orchestral equality that resulted in a coherent, powerful ensemble of orchestral sound and beauty.
Zhang articulated her style quite clearly: precise, exacting, driving and energetic, with a clear vision of her musical intentions. She left us with nothing less than a wow performance.