A PRIZE-WINNING CELLIST OPENS YOUNG ARTISTS SERIES
By Steve Smith
New York Times
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Oc tober 24, 2008
United States
Narek Hakhnazaryan, an Armenian cellist who turned 20 on Thursday, has
already won enough prizes to fill two paragraphs in his professional
biography. Among the latest entries is first prize in this year’s Young
Concert Artists International Auditions. On Tuesday Mr. Hakhnazaryan
reaped a major benefit of the award: a Zankel Hall recital opening
Young Concert Artists’ 48th season.
Mr. Hakhnazaryan, tall and wiry, projected intensity from the moment
he took the stage. But rather than opening with fireworks, he started
with Schumann’s genial "Fantasiestucke." Mr. Hakhnazaryan’s tone was
lean but warm and supple, animating Schumann’s lyrical phrases with
grace. Noreen Polera, a pianist, was an alert, responsive partner.
Beethoven’s Cello Sonata No. 3 (Op. 69) cast Mr. Hakhnazaryan and
Ms. Polera as equals in a balancing act pitched between Classical
elegance and Romantic expressiveness. They negotiated the sonata’s
capricious moods and quirky rhythms with compelling unanimity at
a slightly subdued overall dynamic that made bold accents leap off
the page.
Mr. Hakhnazaryan demonstrated his considerable technical prowess in the
unaccompanied Sonata No. 1 by Adam Khudoyan, an Armenian composer. The
work, from 1961, packed folkish melodies, tricky combinations of
simultaneous bowing and plucking, a passage in ghostly harmonics
and more into a dense continuous span. Abrupt transitions made the
piece seem restless and occasionally aimless, but Mr. Hakhnazaryan’s
commitment was persuasive.
In a commanding account of Shostakovich’s Cello Sonata in D minor,
the martial rhythms that interrupt the opening movement’s melodic
outpouring felt especially charged and brittle. Mr. Hakhnazaryan
brought a daredevil verve to the intricate Scherzo and opened the
stark Largo with an eerie, vibrato-free tone.
A gorgeous rendition of Rachmaninoff’s "Vocalise" offered gentle
relief, and the program ended with Paganini’s flamboyant Variations
on One String on a Theme by Rossini, transcribed from the original
violin version.
A hearty response from the audience brought two encores: a gorgeous
account of the Andante from Rachmaninoff’s Cello Sonata and a
rollicking romp through "Expromt," by the Armenian composer Alexander
Arutiunian. To the very end, Mr. Hakhnazaryan’s intense focus and
expressive artistry never flagged.
The next performance in the Young Concert Artists series is on
Dec. 10 at Merkin Concert Hall, 129 West 67th Street, Manhattan;
(212) 307-6655, yca.org.