Oregon Symphony conductor Vajda soars;
A Bartok score and inspiring Chopin help the orchestra shine
JAMES McQUILLEN
The Oregonian - Monday, January 14, 2008
If Gregory Vajda weren't already the Oregon Symphony's resident conductor, after Saturday night's concert with the orchestra at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, I'd suspect he was auditioning for something. The program was just the sort of thing aspiring conductors bring to a tryout: a couple of big-orchestra blockbusters; a display of clarity with a slightly smaller ensemble; and a concerto, for "plays well with others" points. On all counts, the dynamic young Hungarian scored high.
The evening began with a rarity, Bela Bartok's full-length score for the pantomime "The Miraculous Mandarin." Written in the early 1920s, it accompanied a sordid tale of thievery, violence, murder and love (or something vaguely related, but which is in any case strangely undying until the merciless ending). There's not space enough here to go into the dramatis personae, but just imagine if Gershwin's "American in Paris" had ended up in the wrong part of town and had a really, really bad time.
Bartok called for a huge orchestra, which in this concert meant augmented winds, brass and percussion. The palette of tone color was correspondingly rich and, with the piece's insistent rhythms and harsh harmonies, it contributed to an expressionistic picture of nastiness on both an urban and an intimate scale. By contrast, Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" -- which "The Miraculous Mandarin" resembles in general ways -- seems refreshing; at least it takes place outside.
The performance was commanding, with clear direction from Vajda and incisive playing throughout the orchestra. It could perhaps have been grittier and gutsier in places, pushing beyond fine details and controlled tempos, but it was still impressive. Perhaps the only real drawback was its place at the top of the program. When it was done, I didn't much feel like listening to Debussy or Chopin or Paul Dukas; I felt like taking a shower or petting a kitten.
But after intermission, I did listen to Debussy ("Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun") and Chopin (Piano Concerto No. 2) and Dukas ("The Sorcerer's Apprentice"), and it was all impressive. Particularly good was the Chopin; it featured soloist Ingrid Fliter, who is still fairly obscure even though she's one of only five winners of the prestigious Gilmore Artist Award. Her technical command was fantastic, her touch pristine: In Chopin's avalanches of notes, each one was distinct, and her phrasing was elegant and natural.
Chopin didn't give the orchestra much to do in this youthful concerto, but the symphony did very little very well, achieving nearly perfect balance with Fliter throughout. Vajda, Fliter: Expect to hear these names more often.
©2008 The Oregonian
PIERRE RUHE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - February 9, 2007
"Like most of the cast, Hungarian conductor Gregory Vajda was making his Atlanta Opera debut — as well as his U.S. professional opera debut. (Credit general director Dennis Hanthorn and artistic administrator Eric Mitchko for these discoveries.)
Born in 1973, Vajda’s the real thing. Rhythmically alert, he found his own pace for the opera — a bit on the slow and careful side, perhaps, but always taut and flowing."
Pierre Ruhe, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - February 9, 2007
Conductor Vajda 'a titan'!
ARTHUR KAPTAINIS
The Montreal Gazette - April 30, 2004
Conducting in the opera pit is a hard way to build a reputation. Who in Place des Arts saw Gregory Vajda lead the Montreal Symphony Orchestra through a challenging Opéra de Montréal double bill of Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle and Schoenberg's Erwartung? How many cared about what he did?
Even the reviewers were preoccupied by Robert Lepage's experimental staging. "Young Hungarian newcomer Gregory Vajda brought great clarity to Schoenberg's atonal textures," was about all your correspondent had to say.
MSO musicians, shielded from the stage, have a different perspective.
"Vajda is a titan!" asserts violinist and veteran curmudgeon Pierre Jean, reflecting closely the view of his colleagues. "His talent kept the performances intact. ... Rehearsals for Schoenberg were not enough. As well, performances were spaced so far apart. ... The last performance was rife with missing solos (our cues) and yet the boy was on top of it! Musicianship galore, self- deprecating humor, this boy has it all!"
Mostly Mozart Review by Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times - August 28, 2004
With Gregory Vajda conducting the Orchestra of St. Luke's in the pit at La Guardia Concert Hall, Ms. De Keersmaeker's dancers from Rosas, her company at La Monnaie (the Brussels opera house), were perfectly integrated into the remarkably fluid performance of the three sopranos onstage on.
Gergely (Gregory) Vajda (*1973), is one of the most talented members of Hungary ’s young generation of composers. Clarinetist, conductor, artistic consultant to a brass ensemble and music director of a Budapest theatre, Vajda is an exceptionally versatile musician who mastered the art of composition not at school but through practice. He has participated in the preparation and rehearsal of numerous contemporary pieces, including those of Péter Eötvös. His own works bear the imprint of the beneficial influence of his complex performer ’s experience. Instead of a theoretical approach to composition, it is the creation of the sensual beauty of music that fascinates him; this is why he makes liberal use of variegated colours and unusual effects. Although he was only twenty at the time of its composition, his solo piece, Lightshadow-trembling (1993), bears witness to his superior knowledge of his instrument ’s “soul” and innermost secrets. The motifs surfacing, then fade back into the range of the “inaudible” exploit the dynamic possibiliti es of the clarinet to its maximum. The counterpoints to these ethereal motifs are the sections labelled “wild” in the score, where the clarinet squeals stridently like a folk music instrument, the pipe or the reed-pipe. The fast-as-lightning figures often create the illusion of polyphony, and the playful gestures of recurrent passages evoke Till Eulenspiegel, the great jester. (Gergely Vajda dedicated this work to the poet András Petőcz, whose poems he used five years later in [his 25 minutes long “piece for speaking percussion-quartet”] Non-figurative.”)
Zoltan Farkas in the programbook of the CD “Dervishdance”, Budapest Music Center