Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo-Theme for Violincello and Orchestra, op.33, brims with manic passages that show off his wilder side. Ripping through the fiendish cadenza-like sections and playing the calmer sections with utter lyrical grace, the Argentinian cellist, Sol Gabatta, mesmerized the audience with her transcendent artistry. I had scored a seat in row 7, thanks to someone’s ill wife (and his last name was Mahler, and yes, he's a musician). The other happy occurrence of the concert was to witness conductor Susanna Mälkki’s first appearance in Vienna, leading the Vienna Symphony (Wiener Symphoniker)---first, Symphony No. 3 by Jean Sibelius, followed by the Tchaikovsky. (The theme of the middle movement in the Sibelius is reminiscent of “Dance of the Reed-Flutes" in The Nutcracker---clever programming.) Mälkki has a tight, economical technique, highlighted in the last work on the program, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, performed with the Wiener Singakademie. Charles Downey wrote about Mälkki’s 2006 appointment as the new director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain on his blog, Ionarts. Her pristine technique must have appealed to Pierre Boulez, who passed the baton on to her.
The boys wrestling with (attacking?) the mermaid were discovered on a late afternoon exploratory stroll through the Belvedere Gardens...a coil of aggression amid a peaceful, sedate pool with gravel walkways and benches for sunning.
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