Also this issue: In iPod He Trusts DJ Botany 500 inserts his brain into a little white box and rents it out. -Patrick Rapa Best to read it every week -Patrick Rapa Ed Harcourt -Andrew Parks Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra -Peter Burwasser Erin McKeown -Nancy Armstrong Electric Six -Paul Burress Tiësto -Sean O’Neal Kathleen Edwards -Nicole Pensiero

June 12-18, 2003

music

Angelo Cho

by Peter Burwasser

It is too easy to take for granted the extraordinary level of musical talent that flows out of Curtis every year. But for every superstar like Lang Lang and Hillary Hahn, there are scores of amazing artists who grace more modest stages, at least for now. Violinist Angelia Cho, class of ’02, returned to Philadelphia Sunday afternoon in a program that displayed seemingly bottomless technique and electrifying passion. Her recital began with a monument of the repertoire, the chaconne from Bach’s Partita No. 2 for solo violin. Cho’s playing in this grandly ornate baroque structure signaled a dramatic, even operatic sensibility. Her comfortable pacing allowed for honest expressiveness and eschewed flashiness.

The American composer John Corigliano's Sonata for Violin and Piano is, like so much of his work, an amalgam of influences. Stravinsky is all over the first movement, Barber lurks about the andantino, and Poulenc whispers into the lento. Only the final allegro sounds a distinctive voice, and what a wild ride it is. Cho and her piano accompanist, Christina Anum-Dorhuso, evoked a joyous circus-like world, with peals of laughter spilling forth with athletic flair. This spirit presaged the last work on the program, Ravel's giddily swaggering "Tzigane," which sounded, with eyes closed, like the product of two violinists, at least.

At times, Cho's enormous tone and effusive passion seemed to press at the walls of the intimate space of the Ethical Society. The over-the-top emotionalism of Ernest Bloch's "Nigun" seemed to erupt out of her fiddle. The Sibelius Violin Concerto would barely fit in the hall if the orchestra were present, but in this case the score was reduced to the keyboard, ably rendered by Jungeun Kim. This is obviously a work that Cho adores, and she lavished it with immense power, awesome bow control and stunning precision in the rapid passages.

Without the orchestra, the Sibelius loses some balance, seeming more like a showpiece than a blended symphonic statement. And in general, Cho's program was lilted towards flamboyant material. As her magisterial Bach made clear (as well as her Curtis recitals over the years), she has the poise and intelligence to carry off a recital of any shape she chooses. At this point in the career of this 22-year-old, some youthful brio can be forgiven. Her future would seem to be without limit.

ANGELIA CHO

June 1, Philadelphia Ethical Society