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Title: Working hard to stay in the spotlight
Review: Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg was featured on 60 Minutes as the untrammeled artist who couldn't be stopped, the underdog who swooned and swayed onstage, lost in her expressive rapture. That's what her fans expect, and she more or less lives up to the image here. This is very wayward playing, in which the soloist bends over backwards to keep the spotlight on herself. As a result of ignoring the composer, the score is pulled around like taffy.Perhaps this is the new romanticism, and I would be thrilled if NSS's ideas were fascinating. But on the whole she swoops and exaggerates for no other purpose than ego display. There are breathless pauses and sudden leaps of excitement that make no sense. Tilson Thomas plays along by forgetting the tempo and waiting for his soloist to get through her next stunt.It's funny, because I am all in favor of NSS's shtick about artistic freedom, but this junky Sibelius concerto is her personal trip, pure and simple.
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