Orchestrated Effort

Thursday, Jan. 27, 2005 | 8:14 a.m.

You could say that the Moscow Philharmonic has been typecast, and no matter how many Brahms, Copland and Schubert pieces it carries in its repertoire, audiences yearn for authentic Russian sound, particularly Tchaikovsky.

So when Cho-Liang Lin and the Moscow Philharmonic take the stage Friday at UNLV, expect nothing short of a big blowout of Tchaikovsky's "Cappricio Italien," "Violin Concerto in D Major" and "Symphony No. 5."

"It's incredibly fascinating to see and hear how they play," said Lin, who is performing with the orchestra (under the direction of Yuri Simonov) during most concerts on the tour. "All Russian orchestras are capable of different set of colors than American ones. The brass is a bit edgy. Strings sound very big, very warm."

But it isn't only the orchestral sounds. Lin, too, has his history with Tchaikovsky. The composer was a favorite of his father (who influenced Lin's early interest in music) and "Violin Concerto in D Major," which he'll perform with the Moscow Philharmonic, is the very piece of music the Berlin Philharmonic asked Lin to perform at age 18 while studying at The Juilliard School.

However, at a time when it wasn't fashionable to place teen superstars on the classical circuit, Lin's instructor, Dorothy DeLay, turned down the offer, saying Lin wasn't ready for such a performance with the popular concerto.

"At that time I had played it only one or two times," Lin, now a professor at Juilliard, said. "I knew that I was not ready, although the idea the possibility existed was very thrilling.

"Very often it is the most asked for in my concertos. It's very brilliant. It's a very exciting piece. Tchaikovsky was also incredibly great at writing beautiful melodies. It's hard not to like it."

The concerto comes with a turbulent history. Written in 1878, shortly after the disastrous and short-lived marriage Tchaikovsky had with Antonina Milyukova, it was first deemed unplayable, then criticized as a monstrosity in which the violin is "beaten black and blue." But it grew into popularity and today is considered one of the greatest violin concertos.

"Symphony No. 5," also on the program, is a fate-themed emotional piece, one of three that mirrors the composer's own struggles. "Cappricio Italien" is a symphonic poem inspired by Italian folk songs.

Lin began studying Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto at age 15 while attending Juilliard. By then he had been playing the violin for 10 years, something his father instilled in him during his childhood in the town of Hsin-Chu, south of Taipei, where Lin would listen to the recordings of Isaac Stern brought home by his father.

"Tchaikovsky was my father's favorite," Lin said. "He brought home many, many recordings. My father was a physicist. He was very passionate about music and wanted me to start the violin so we could have music in the house."

At age 12, one year after his father died, Lin went to Australia to further his studies before heading to New York. Now in his 40s and an instructor at Juilliard, Lin is a top violinist and is responsible for two music festivals, one in La Jolla, Calif., where he serves as artistic director, and another in Taiwan, which in the early 1970s, he said, "did not have a good musical infrastructure yet. No conservatory, no coherent system."

"It helps promote general interest in music in that part of the country. We don't get too adventurous (with the program). It's usually Brahms, Mozart and Beethoven. We have a 2,400-seat auditorium. In order to fill it we have to have familiar composers."

The pairing of Lin and the Moscow Philharmonic has drawn favorable reviews from critics, as has the natural pairing of the philharmonic and Tchaikovsky.

The orchestra was founded in 1951 by Samuel Samosud, conductor of the Bolshoi Opera, to perform radio broadcasts of operatic music. Its repertoire includes the complete works of Russian composers, as well as contemporary Russian and American composers.

Recently it broke from Tchaikovsky and performed Schubert and Rachmaninoff, with Lin playing a Brahms violin concerto, in Sarasota, Fla.

The change can be a treat for the musicians, Lin said.

"Tchaikovsky is more expected out of a Russian orchestra, especially an orchestra from Moscow," he said. "I know the members would rather play Brahms and Schubert."

But being an orchestra composed completely of Russian musicians (when American and European orchestras have cross-cultural performers), the stereotype lingers.

"Outside of Russia, you'll probably (only) get the Vienna Philharmonic, which is strictly quintessential Vienna," Lin said.

Regarding the Moscow orchestra, he explained, "If you are a young musician growing up in Moscow, you're more likely taught by a musician in the philharmonic, so it has quite a lineage."