A Richly-spiced Palette

MALCOLM MILLER reports
on the world première of
a new viola concerto in Tel Aviv

The world première of the Viola Concerto by the young Israeli composer Yoram Meyouhas formed the centrepiece of a superbly stirring concert by the Israel Chamber Orchestra conducted by Roberto Paternostro at the Tel Aviv Museum on 28 April 2008, with the composer as soloist. Amongst the other highlights in the programme was an outstanding interpretation of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto performed by the young Israeli clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein, the two concertos framed by Paternostro's dynamic accounts of the Don Giovanni Overture and the Prague Symphony. Founded by Gary Bertini and currently under the artistic direction of the prolific composer-pianist Gil Shohat, the ICO is one of the leading ensembles in a lively musical scene that has seen a recent flourishing of chamber orchestras, such as the Tel Aviv Soloists.

The concert formed part of one of the various series (alongside Lieder and Chamber music series) that take place in the impressively designed Tel Aviv museum, which enjoys a variety of halls for opera, concert and ballet alongside visual arts, a hive of activity which a visit to their website immediately throws into relief. The concert hall itself, a small theatre midway in size between London's Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room, has a clear and pronounced acoustic, and a generous and conveniently placed interval bar, which on this occasion found the near capacity audience, mixing with orchestra members, in a buzz of discussion about the new work.

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