Billed as an evening of Mussorgsky and Rachmaninoff, Tuesday’s Orchestre symphonique de Montréal concert wasn’t. Guest violinist Christian Tetzlaff made sure of that.
Technical ability is so common nowadays that a virtuoso probably made your morning coffee, but Tetzlaff comes with the far rarer appellation of “intellectual” — one of those musicians who expands music. He does this with an aura of modesty and on a modern violin, pushing repertoire like Szymanowski’s Concerto No.1 Op.35.
And in a more direct sense by producing unusual sounds…