By Terry Blain
In the final concert under the baton of artistic partner Thomas Zehetmair, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra performed the world premiere of Pierre Jalbert’s Violin Concerto.
They brought a similar sharpness and artistry to a new Violin Concerto by American composer Pierre Jalbert, which had its world premiere at Friday morning’s concert at the Ordway in St. Paul.
The concerto’s most arresting music came in the outer sections of the opening movement, where slithering piano glissandos and twinkling percussion meshed with wispy violins to conjure a magically airborne texture.
In between, and for much of the second movement, Jalbert’s music was dominated by edgy, yakking rhythms that seemed to value a raw sense of propulsive dynamism over more expansive, lyrical material.