Perlman on ‘Houston’s best classical music performances’

Itzhak Perlman conducting the Houston Symphony (Photo credit: Anthony Rathbun)

Itzhak Perlman’s October performance with the Houston Symphony has been featured on the Houston Chronicle’s “Houston’s Best Classical Music Performances in 2018.” Perlman is listed alongside outstanding artists such as Yuja Wang, Nicole Heaston and Inon Barnatan.

Writer Christ Gray raves: “Already onscreen this year in Alison Chernick’s award-winning documentary “Itzhak,” the virtuoso violinist and 16-time Grammy winner gave Jones Hall a personal taste of his effervescent humanity in a charming program called “Perlman Plays & Conducts.” Watching him play was as captivating as ever; here the showpiece was Bach’s Violin Concerto No. 1, a technically impressive but somehow understated platform for his abundant gifts. Perlman at the podium, as it happened, was equally compelling.

During the Bach, Perlman guided the orchestra between the brilliant solo passages with an elaborate sequence of head-nods and gestures with his bow. Conducting Robert Schumann’s deeply romantic Symphony No. 4 — the upper- and lower-case senses of Romantic” were both in full effect — and Mozart’s magnificent Symphony No. 40, his left hand gave constant stream of accents and cues while his baton in his right ticked away the measures. Every so often Perlman’s left arm would shoot straight up in the air, as if simply unable to contain his joy any longer.”

For the full list, click here.