REVIEW: Itzhak Perlman Joins Colorado Symphony at Carnegie Hall
Above photo by: Amanda Tipton Photography
January 31, 2026
The Colorado Symphony skied in from the Mile High City to bring Carnegie Hall an afternoon of thrilling delights under the baton of their Music Director Peter Oundjian.
Headlining as guest of honor, the venerable violinist Itzhak Perlman, celebrating his 80th birthday. One of the world’s most prolific and celebrated violinists since making his debut a few blocks away on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1958, Perlman needs no introduction. But who knew he posesses a comedic strain, as well?
Joking in good spirits and putting the room at ease — his fiddle (a Stradivarius, no doubt) tucked casually under his chin, like a natural appendage — Perlman treated us with what he called a “recital for violin and orchestra.”
Itzhak Perlman and the Colorado Symphony at Carnegie Hall. Photo credit: Amanda Tipton Photography
Dvořák’s Romance for Violin and Piano in F Minor, Op. 11, served as main course, a hearty meat-and-potatoes slow movement. Oundjian shaped the orchestral accompaniment gracefully, and the orchestra supported the violin’s wistful and soaring melody with care.
Perlman followed with a pu pu platter of lighter bites, first three 1910 ditties by Fritz Kreisler, Schön Rosmarin, Liebesfreud, and Tambourin Chinois. The ease with which he tossed off the filigree in the last piece was fun to witness. Perlman’s “greatest hit,” if you will, followed (surely it follows him everywhere), and why not? John Williams’s Theme from Schindler’s List is such a gem of popular composition, it never fails to bring tearful memories of the moving Spielberg film and the story it tells. Perlman concluded with Carlos Gardel’s irresistible Tango, Por una Cabeza (featured in the film Scent of a Woman), and returned for several standing ovations.
But back to the fine Colorado Symphony. Before Perlman appeared, the visiting ensemble strutted its stuff in a new work by John Adams, Frenzy: A Short Symphony. Premiered in London in 2024, the single movement, 20-minute work required intense virtuosity from the orchestra. Reminiscent of Bernstein’s more angular dance music, rhythmically unpredictable, visceral and punchy, the shifting layers of texture were alternately forceful and delicate from the musicians.
Peter Oundjian conducts the Colorado Symphony. Photo credit: Amanda Tipton Photography
The orchestra’s sections and soloists were on full display in Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, always a feast for the senses, especially in Maurice Ravel’s delicious orchestration. Colorado’s trumpet section was in fine form in the stately Promenade, which Oundjian paced with great balance between forward motion and breath.
Oundjian’s omniscient guidance was crucial and wise throughout the piece, each movement having just enough weight and thrust for maximum effect. High points included a not-too-slow rendition of The Old Castle, its melancholy saxophone solo and droning bassoons conjuring mystery and fog.
A similar lack of sentimentality drove the entire performance, from a playfully brisk Tuileries and crisp Ballet of the Chicks in Their Shells. The woodwind section’s intonation was flawless, and the string section, as in Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle, contrasted rich and poor in hefty, weighty utterances.
Ravel’s transcription was the star of the show, inevitably, as the suspenseful The Hut on Fowl’s Legs built inexorably into the shimmering climax of The Great Gate of Kiev. The Colorado Symphony arrived at the majestic peak with just the right amount of gleaming percussion and rich, beautifully tuned harmonies in the brass.
Peter Oundjian and the Colorado Symphony. Photo credit: Amanda Tipton Photography
