RBSO - A18: Bomsori Kim plays Beethoven Violin Concerto English Review

    Although at this concert there were only 2 performances without a overture, And in fact the concert's program has even changed. Originally Hector Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique to be perform, nevertheless the performance is full of quality. After last time there were more audiences than ever before but in this time more audiences were drawn than even more than that, which there were audiences on every floor of Main auditorium, Thailand Cultural Center. ATK policy this time have become more flexible but still have a lot of people have to test before enter, so you need to be at least half an hour before the actual show time.

    In the first performance which was Ludwig van Beethoven's work, although there are many reasons why many artists like Beethoven's work, I think it comes from two important points of interest:

1. There are not many works in each genre of music that Beethoven composed. Because if there is too much pieces it may not be understood enough, and if there is too little pieces it are not diverse. To found out that only String quartets and Piano Sonata are only genres of music that Beethoven composed more than ten (10) pieces in his lifetime.
2. In each works pieces' expression are diverse and extensive to seek attention because if too many works goes out in the same styles People are more likely to remember his's best or last works, such as Mozart or Lizst, for example. Having a wide variety of expression will also help your audience reach more content.

    And for this reason, Beethoven's work meets in long-term popularity. Not as genre specialist as some later composers, and Beethoven's Violin Concerto is also count in for this reason. Earlier this year if Alice Sara Ott was protagonist for RBSO. Then Bomsori Kim must be the best supporting artist in this year as well. The Korean musician Bomsori's arrival is well-known the classical music's world right now, like a trend of many Korean entertainer that speed around the world. I respect this orchestra's foundation for being brave to pull off an impressive performance. At this concert, Bomsori comes in an almost translucent light blue dress, against with the entire group clad in black suits in a very quiet personality.

    Beginning in the first movement with an oboe playing together with stings sections very slow then Bomsori began to perform beautifully in the midst of serenity. With this performance that are not very loud as she doesn't put a high one. Then she quickly fiddling although it was muffling than I expected but still beautiful. She didn't miss any key moments by showing us how easy it was. Even when there are some intense sound in every note. Somehow she was like a swan floating in a pond in the dark forest, splashed with moonlight. Even going into a slower tempo, she did not skip and keep every note out to the end, her cadenza didn't play to create a melody, but to focusing on ascending and descending scale instead but very incredible as some people mis-applauded after the end of this movement

    After a short pause, the next movement came at a slower tempo. The orchestra begins with a relaxed stringed section then Bomsori starts out with woodwind section. Due this piece's nature made soloist stand out from orchestra than last movement. She had quite a chance to use vibrato even if it was a slow piece. At the same time, the strings section is more refined than it used to be just to answer with her play. So I can say that in this movement it really shows how good she is. And continuously perform in the last movement with faster tempo in very divertimento. In the last part, she uses the cadenza rhythm by reimagined the beginning of the last movement to re-scale it again to make it more strange, plus the rhythm of swaying and swaying with excitement. before ending with the orchestra taking on side-to-side playing together intensely and ending up in the last movement impressively. To put it simple, although Beethoven's Violin Concerto is uncomplicated work and not too fast to listen to, but it does have a lot of detail to pay attention to, However Bomsori was able to repeat the recapitulate in a different way. Even though I regret that the piece is pianissimo than I thought But I believe that she already performed well and I hope she continue to maintain this level for very long time.

    In the encore, she played Johann Sebastian Bach's Partita for Violin No. 2, 3rd movement of Sarabande in impeccable performance. Before the performance, she said that she was delighted with her first visit to Thailand that so many people came to listen to her. But I'm not surprised by that because her reputation before coming here and there are variety of K-pop singers performing in Thailand already. And I hope from now on there will be more Korean musicians to perform in Thailand in the future.

    After the intermission in the second half end with Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 8, there is no doubt that this work benefited from his No. 9, But this piece was written before his visit to America. Also the work originally counted as No.4 before the rest of the work could be found later and reorder the numbers. This time RBSO came in almost a full circle. The first movement begins with a cello with an exhilarating woodwind section before continuing with strings sections to mix makes the sound feel very loud, completely different from the first half. It is an exhilarating performance, probably because it is not a very heavy work, so it is not difficult to play brightly. Woodwinds, especially flutes, play a huge role in this movement , thus releasing full power.

    Later in the second movement came a slower but not mournful pace. In fact strings section that really can be easily mistaken catching but to my surprise they played in perfect harmony, to this point I clearly heard Czech style music. The flute plays major role again along with the strings section. Continue later on they played this slower pace I could even feel a sense of despair and anxiety. And then all musicians came to speed up, especially the brass that came in as well. But because of the use of a lot of force, the brass instrument has lost its rhythm many times. and not long came back at a relaxed pace like the beginning again. At the end of this movement the orchestra play is in a medium rhythm. If excluding brass section, the orchestra was playing perfectly as it hadn't for a long time. Coming at the third movement which it was a relatively short but it slower like in ballet style. The strings still continues to play elaborately. but not focus to any particular sections.

    At the last movement starting with the trumpets exploded without any problems. Then the cello back to the role again after a long hiatus, and then strings section came into the mix smoothly. After that all the instruments came together and played so fiercely and intensely so that even the softest woodwinds could be heard clearly. After that it came back to relax mode for the cello to convey the gentleness together with flute also with other stringed instruments. and start rushing in the last push as fast as the final baton of 4x100 meters relay and finished with a great finish line in the end.

    Although I may have addressed this issue a long time ago, I would like to say that the orchestra has finally found the right path after a lot of trouble. It comes to the point where it should be at last, the next thing is to maintain the standard and further develop in the orchestra's quality. I am very satisfied with this concert both in terms of the quality of the performance and the organizing of the concert after the Covid. Also have great respect for the conductor for setting clear guidelines that are no more blurry. Although most of this year's schedule has been set, I hope there will be more concerts in this year and next year there will be more world-class musicians to perform in Bangkok. Finally, although this concert is as good as I expected, but there are so many regrets in this concert as being held together with another concert at Salaya. I believe that there will be more audiences if not they both held together and It's also a pity that although this concert sold a large number of tickets, the audience was not much more than what was seen last time especially in the second half which gone by half (And actually, I'm not surprised at all.)

 

And finally the score out of ten.

• Ludwig van Beethoven - Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61
• Bomsori Kim (9.1)
• Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra (8.8)
• Encore : Johann Sebastian Bach - Partita for Violin No. 2 in D minor (BWV 1004) III. Sarabande (9.5)
• Antonín Dvořák - Symphony No. 8 (9.0)