United States Various: Stefan Jackiw (violin), Musicians of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Heinz Hall, Pittsburgh, 30.5.2026. (SJ)
Pärt – Fratres
Bach – Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV1043
Mendelssohn – Violin Concerto in D minor, MWVO3
In one of the Pittsburgh Symphony’s most essential offerings, audience members are given the opportunity to hear the guest soloist from the weekend’s subscription concerts in a chamber music setting with select PSO musicians. Branded as PSO360, performances in this series seat a small crowd of 200 in the round on the Heinz Hall stage, affording an intimate portrait of the artist. Straddling performances of the Korngold Violin Concerto, Stefan Jackiw was on hand for a delightfully scaled-back program.
Arvo Pärt’s Fratres exists in a range of instrumentations and was presented in its most commonly heard scoring for solo violin, strings and percussion. The lights dimmed and the performers were shrouded in hues of blue, creating an atmosphere befitting the music’s mysticism. Jackiw’s solo playing was impassioned and with rapid-fire intensity. There was a certain purity in the work’s austerity, an ethos best captured by the surrounding strings in their quiet stasis. Yet there was underlying tension from the percussion, suggesting an ever-present ticking clock.
Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins paired Jackiw with PSO concertmaster David McCarroll. In his spoken remarks, Jackiw fondly reminisced about playing with McCarroll when they were students of Donald Weilerstein at the New England Conservatory. With effortless communication, it was very much a congenial performance among friends. Accompanied by strings and continuo (Rodrigo Ojeda), the crisp, energetic playing made one wish for more opportunities to hear the PSO in Baroque repertoire. Marked by the beauty of long-bowed melodic lines, the central slow movement was a soft-spoken dialogue ahead of the crackling Allegro. Tautly in sync, the performers’ propulsive drive pushed towards a spirited conclusion.
A real rarity closed the program: Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in D minor, a youthful work that predates the indelible E minor Concerto by over two decades. Written when he was just 13, the wunderkind composer had already immersed himself in the music of Bach, and the concerto shows that influence to make a fitting coupling with the work that preceded it here. The extended orchestral introduction was of a discipline and severity quite striking for a young teenager. Jackiw entered with an elegant, gently contoured melodic line, producing a tone that emerged clearly above the string orchestra.
Though certainly not on a par with Mendelssohn’s masterful E minor Concerto, I was struck by the fluidity and confidence of this composition – an apt description for Jackiw’s playing as well. The Andante movement was of a simplicity that said much with little, and the foot-tapping rhythmic lilt of the brief finale capped off the precocious work in impressive fashion.
Sam Jacobson