Detroit Symphony Orchestra Review

Of Olga’s performance last weekend with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Classical Source writes “The first movement [of the Barber Piano Concerto] may be heard as impassioned, surreptitious, edgy and jagged – but always communicative – contrasted with romantic entreaties from woodwinds, and with a powerful sense of struggle that culminates in a vibrant cadenza, which Kern played with panache and skill and – as throughout the Concerto – with emotional identity. Delicacy and infinite melody embroider the entrancing central ‘Canzone’, wistful music a world away from the tussles of the first movement, and Bartókian rhythmic punch informs the Finale, Barber introducing exotic contrasts and scoring, knots tied with the mighty and emphatic conclusion. It was good to hear this piece again in such a committed account. For a pulsating encore, Kern selected the final example of Prokofiev’s Four Etudes, his Opus 2.”

Read the full review here.