IPalpiti means ''heartbeat'' in Italian, and it seems a fitting name for the vibrant string orchestra from which the conductor Eduard Schmieder elicited a lively pulse at Zankel Hall on Wednesday night.
According to the program notes, iPalpiti, which Mr. Schmieder founded in 1991, considers each of its 24 members, young competition laureates from 20 countries, a soloist. In a hall as small as Zankel, individual musicians are more noticeable than usual, but the ensemble was particularly noteworthy for its unity of purpose and blend. It was as if the musicians' hearts were beating to the same buoyant rhythm.
Shostakovich completed his Prelude and Scherzo (Op. 11) for string octet (also sometimes performed by string orchestra) in 1925 at 18. He wrote a letter that year to a friend, reporting that his teacher ''made a sour face and expressed the hope that, when I turn 30, I will no longer write such wild music.''
But this early work, which opened the program, bears all the hallmarks of later Shostakovich, with a soulful lament, darkly sardonic moods, glissandos and propulsive rhythms. The members of iPalpiti (all under 30) played with verve, with fine contributions from Peter Rainer, the concertmaster.
Vassily Primakov, the young Moscow-born pianist, brought fiery intensity to Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor (Op. 35), which followed on the program. Hunched over the piano, he caressed the lyrical, elegiac passages and illuminated the spiky undertones coursing through this theatrically high-spirited, burlesque framework. Jens Lindemann, the solo trumpeter, played with seductive, golden timbre and virtuosic flair.
For a preintermission encore, Mr. Lindemann and Daniel Nix, a bassist, offered an abrupt mood change with a sultry rendition of ''Sugar Blues,'' the Clyde McCoy standard.
Then two Tchaikovsky works gave iPalpiti a chance to show off its lustrous, polished tone and graceful phrasing. In ''Souvenir d'un Lieu Cher'' (Op. 42), Sayako Kusaka was the musical, sensitive solo violinist. The Serenade for Strings (Op. 48) was played with youthful ardor.
Three additional encores included a lush
rendition of Tchaikovsky's ''Elegy.'' With all the women dressed in
colorful, floor-length gowns, the orchestra looked as vibrant as it
sounded.
