Mozart Concerto No.5 and Saint-Saens Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso with the Berliner Philharmoniker
“Concentrated and free”
Concertmaster Noah Bendix-Balgley played as soloist of the evening with a tone both supple and melting. When the Berlin Philharmonic accompanies a leading musician from their own ranks, they have the evening to themselves. It was a movingly festive moment for their collectivity. Daniel Stabrawa sat in the first chair while his concertmaster colleague Noah Bendix-Balgley was soloist of the evening. Both of them are leading personalities among violinists. Through its concertmaster, the orchestra absorbed every impulse led by the soloist, who played Mozart’s Concerto in A-Minor (KV 219) with discipline that yet conveyed the feel of improvisation. As it is written in the score, he joins the tutti violin passages before his own part rises to float above the orchestra. His tone was both supple and melting, always focused and free. With a Capriccio by Saint-Saëns, the violinist led into French works, which offered the further delicacy of Maurice Ravel’s “L’enfant et les sortilèges”
Sybill Mahlke, Der Tagespiegel January 22nd, 2018
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Festive and fascinating: The Berlin Philharmonic performs Mozart and Ravel, with Concertmaster Noah Bendix-Balgley as Soloist.