At least, the concert-goers at the Kennedy Center's all-Beethoven program by the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Hungarian maestro Ivan Fisher last night. Znaider, an Israeli-Polish virtuoso from Denmark, played Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61 just brilliantly. He seemed to have a special relationship with concertmaster Nurit Bar-Josef, lots of meaningful glances that might have been some musical shorthand--but that looked an awful lot like flirting. He's taller by a head than maestro Fisher, himself a dynamic Hungarian, whose exhalations from exertion could be heard over the score, at least in our second-row seats. The house was almost full, Znaider got a standing ovation, and among the local celebrities in attendance was NPR Supreme Court diva Nina Totenberg. The rest of the program was grand, as well--Egmont and Coriolan overtures, followed by the reliably crowd-pleasing Symphony Number Five in C Minor, Op.67.
Da-da-da--dum!
Here's a link to a profile of Znaider in Strings Magazine.