Simone Porter brings bracing artistry to Celebrity Series recital

Aaron Keebaugh | February 10, 2022

Simone Porter’s Celebrity Series debut at Pickman Hall Wednesday night proved revelatory on two fronts. The violinist’s bracing accounts of mostly 21st-century works confirmed the good reasons for her quick rise to fame. And a world premiere by composer Reena Esmail proved a remarkable discovery.

Each has established a unique voice at a relatively young age. Porter continues to earn acclaim for her silver-toned virtuosity and probing interpretations. Esmail blends Western and Hindustani styles—drawing on her Indian heritage—with stunning originality.

Her Drishti, written for Porter, proved an ideal showcase for the young violinist’s artistry. Scored for solo violin, Drishti refers to a concept familiar to practitioners of yoga, where a gaze channels one’s focused energy. Throughout its ten-minute span, the score explores transformations in color—subtle glissandos and harmonics gradually take added weight in bluesy arpeggios. Yet there are spare moments where trills outline a single note. Drishti never feels gestural, and Porter revealed the work’s spiritual essence by conveying its inner power and meditative ease.

Other works for solo violin showcased similar sensitivity, albeit in a somewhat slight first half

“Sabina” from Andrew Norman’s The Companion Guide to Rome captures the impressions of a Roman cathedral at sunrise. Tone color is the singular element, and the music’s faint gestures never quite flower into an indelible melody. Working like a painter, Porter nevertheless shaped the rustling figures and whistle tones into a vivid sonic picture.

Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Lachen verlernt plumbed greater emotional depths. The ten-minute work takes its inspiration from Schoenberg’s “Gebet an Pierrot,” the ninth song in Pierrot lunaire, where the narrator pleads for the clown to return her ability to laugh. Salonen’s music is a literal depiction of that effort, with yearning phrases building into a frenzy before calming suddenly in the closing bars. Porter reveled in its virtuosic display, her lines erupting in a climactic fury.

Porter was a subtle presence in Heinrich Biber’s Passacaglia in G minor, the final work from the Rosary Sonatas. The opening descending figure, played with a distant tone, provided the foundation for the double stops and rapid figures to follow. Through it all the violinist found a prayer resonance.

The second half of the program was dedicated to César Franck’s Violin Sonata in A major.

The work is a marvel of cyclic unity and wide emotional contrasts, and Porter had an equal partner in pianist Hsin-I Huang. Their plush blend revealed the pathos in every movement. 

The first was characterized with radiant lyricism, led tastefully into the angsty Allegro. Porter and Huang softened their tone in all the right moments, finding both poignancy and sweeping grandeur. The Recitativo—Fantasia was just as heartfelt, and the duo’s sensitive approach made for a serene finale.

Porter and Huang rewarded the applause with a tender encore: Fritz Kreisler’s transcription of Dvořák’s Songs My Mother Taught Me.   

Review: Sarasota Orchestra's 'New World' a sumptuous feast

Gayle Williams | March 13, 2022

Simone Porter, a violinist of considerable skill and renown, spun gold from the rich melodic material in Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, Op. 14. Before we reached the breath-taking wild ride of the perpetual motion presto, which dared everyone on stage to get through without dropping a note, we melted into a nostalgic reverie buoyed by tender phrases and a pillow of the well-blended Sarasota Orchestra strings.   

Barber uses the softer pastel colors of the string and woodwind palettes to great effect. The second movement is musical poetry introduced by solo oboe with billowy strings and forays by solo clarinet and horn as well. Porter transported us with the violin’s heartbreaking tenderness to passionate throes of longing and loss. Conductor and orchestra partnered seamlessly with Porter’s sensitive phrasing. 

In contrast, the manic last movement sent hearts racing with a sugar rush of rapid notes that swept us along in its torrent. There wasn’t a second of hesitation before the crowd leaped to its feet with admiration. 

Symphony Review: Scottish snap and snappy Schubert with the SLSO

Chuck Lavazzi | November 23, 2021

The Scots theme continued with Max Bruch’s 1880 “Scottish Fantasy” for violin and orchestra.  Bruch’s experience of Scotland was literary rather than literal in that he never set foot on Scottish soil but, as Caitlin Custer points out in this week’s program notes, Bruch read “everything Scottish he could get his hands on.” In any case, he did a surprisingly good job of communicating the majestic windswept and melancholy beauty of the countryside. That’s especially the case in the wistful third movement, which makes liberal use of the traditional air “I’m A’ Doun for Lack O’ Johnnie”.

In her SLSO debut, soloist Simone Porter proved to be a most persuasive interpreter of Bruch’s sentimental and appealing work. Fully engaged with both the conductor and the orchestra, Porter played with rich warmth in the lyrical first and third movements. In the latter, she played with so much tenderness that I felt a temptation (wisely resisted) to hum along with her. She had a brighter sound and more physically active stage presence in the cheerful second movement, based on the lively fiddle tune “The Dusty Miller”, and brought out the majesty and pride of the finale, which is based on “Scots Wha Hae”—Scotland’s unofficial national anthem, at least back in Bruch’s day.

All of which is a loquacious way of saying that it was a damn fine performance of a tremendously appealing work, by both Porter and Danzmayr. The latter chose his tempi and dynamic contrasts with great care—including the wise use of an extended moment of silence after the third movement. The orchestra was right there with him all the way. A special shout-out is owed to harpist Allegra Lilly, whose playing added another rich layer, especially in the third and fourth movements. It has been suggested that Bruch saw the harp as an essential part of the Scottish folk tradition. If so, he was wise to include it.

The audience clearly appreciated Porter’s work and insisted on an encore, And the one she gave us was lovely: the third movement (“Sarabanda”) from Bach’s Violin Partita No. 2. Porter prefaced it by describing her experience working with the SLSO as “joyous.” I think the audience would agree.

Classical Music Review: Princeton Symphony Orchestra

Susan Van Dongen | October 6, 2021

The concert continued with Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor, featuring soloist Simone Porter in a remarkable performance. Sporting a burgundy jumpsuit, Porter seized upon the unusual way the Mendelssohn concerto opens. There is no orchestral introduction or exposition, the solo violin just launches into a familiar, bittersweet melody. The first movement (Allegro molto passionate) requires both soloist and orchestra to play with vigor and precision, and the PSO did so easily and with elegance. Porter executed the break-neck passages with a passion, leaning into her instrument, even swaying at times. Yet, she was never out of control, mastering even the highest registers of the instrument. After all these musical fireworks, there was a brief moment of calm, shared with the woodwinds. This allowed us all to take a breath, and served as a bridge to the second movement. We were treated to a hushed and familiar melody, lulled into relaxation before the third movement (Allegro molto vivace) took off again, on another spirited romp. Plucked strings and playful melodies were passed between the solo violinist and the woodwinds, and the combination was effervescent. The final segment showcased how superbly the PSO accompanies its special guests, never overwhelming a soloist.

Review: Edmonton Symphony Orchestra

Mark Morris | June 1, 2019

“Porter, still only 23, has everything: gorgeous tone, power, a sense of drama but also of whimsical introversion, a musical maturity well beyond her years. Best of all, she seems so utterly engrossed in the music, rather than in any flamboyant performance. That musicality is what makes her such a compelling performer and such an exciting prospect.

This was one of those wonderful occasions where all the elements — the orchestral playing, the conducting, and the solo playing — magically came together to be so much more than the sum of the parts. There was something almost fairy-taleish about the interpretation (appropriate for Prokofiev), from the countryside feel of the first movement (with Porter playing it like a fox dancing across the Russian steppe), through the sleigh ride and march of the second movement, to the mysteriously lyrical playing in the finale (just the right touch of sentiment without overt sentimentality). The balance between soloist and orchestra could not have been more perfectly judged. A really super performance.

The other main work… was Barber’s Violin Concerto, a work which Porter has had in her repertoire for four years. For Porter that final movement was a chance to show off her virtuoso side (she devoured its difficulties like a cat playing with a mouse), in another compelling performance. There was some delicious orchestral playing (notably from the two horns), and again magic in the lyricism of the first two movements, the great expanse of the American prairie unfolding in place of the Russian steppes of the Prokofiev.

Review: Mozart and Korngold: Mature Prodigies at Long Beach

David J Brown | May 2, 2019

“Anyone who knew the concerto just from Heifetz’s pioneering recording, with its urgent tempi for all three movements, would have had a shock here. Ms. Porter’s projection of her soaring opening theme was slower and more ruminative that any I’ve previously heard, and the many subsequent occasions when Korngold’s sheer chutzpah has the violin leap an octave or more became in her hands moments of far-seeking aspiration, perfectly clean in intonation and the antithesis of vulgar display.

As for orchestra and conductor, in the “virtually pulseless” (as he had described them) first two movements, they seemed to relish every gorgeous harmonic twist and turn, delineating clearly all the layered strands of Korngold’s iridescent orchestration and, in the central Romance, projecting a limpidly moonlit nocturne in which Ms. Porter’s weaving line glistened like gossamer spider-thread.

In total contrast the finale, somewhere between a sonata-rondo and an informal set of variations on the main theme, drawn from Korngold’s music for The Prince and the Pauper, bounced into ebullient life from the first bar of violin skittering and remained buoyantly airborne until the last roaring horn fanfare. The audience was still on its feet cheering when Ms. Porter on her third return to the platform gave as encore, not a piece of solo pyrotechnics, but a sweetly inward account of one of the double movements from Bach’s Partita No. 1 in B-flat minor BWV 1002. It was perfect.”

Review: Unconventional Wins the Day

Wayne Lee Gray | February 2, 2019

“Bruch gives the capable violin soloist a wonderful showcase in the opening phrase, stretching from the bottom to the top of the instrument’s range; Porter immediately demonstrated total technical command, virtuosic flair, and a beautiful tone across the spectrum, which she continued to display throughout the concerto and its dramatic journey. Her part often holds the spotlight with soaring melody, and just as often presents lyrical commentary to the orchestra’s pronouncements; she played both roles with appealing presence and consistently beautiful tone

Review: Why Dudamel conducting John Williams’ music in Disney Hall is unlike any Williams music you’ve heard before

Mark Swed | January 25, 2019

“In the most serious selection of the evening, the young violinist Simone Porter brought a soulful dark richness to the main theme from “Schindler’s List.”