Concert review: Carolin Widmann (violin) Philadelphia Orchestra/Rafael Payare

For her debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra, violinist Carolin Widmann chose a striking calling card, Kaija Saariaho’s Graal théâtre (1995), originally written for Gidon Kremer, and inspired by Jacques Roubaud’s book about the legend of King Arthur. As a melancholy aside, Roubaud died scarcely a month earlier, in December 2024 at the age of 92.

Filled with arpeggiated double-stops, glissandos and harmonics, the two-movement work is unusual among the composer’s output in requiring no electronics. However, Saariaho creates a wonderland without them, a glittering array of instrumental effects, such as a sequence in the first movement with violin, timpani and bells, which impressed with its spare delicacy. There were plenty of opportunities for virtuosity, too, and Widmann’s demeanour – with calm glances at conductor Rafael Payare – belied some of its rugged challenges.

At the end, when the opening harmonics returned, Widmann gave them the feel of a gentle memorial – a love letter to a brilliant composer who left us not even two years ago. When the cheers erupted, many in the crowd were standing.

The evening had opened with the Suite no.2 from Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, with the Philadelphia strings on glistening form. After the interval, Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony – admittedly a woodwind bonanza – was filled with more delectable string moments. Near the end of the riotous third movement, the double basses erupted with a shuddering barrage that, in another world, might have hurled the entire section off the stage.

Bruce Hodges