New York Philharmonic – Riccardo Muti, conductor; Radu Lupu, Piano. January 26, 2008.

Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Orchestra 1 (Seat G8, $59).

Program

Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 (1841-45) by Schumann (1810-56).

Symphony No. 6 in A major (1879-91) by Bruckner (1824-96)

Just a few remarks about tonight's concert. We are seated in the seventh row from the front, on the right side. So we had a great view of the viola section, including the guy who played with great gusto. Seldom do I hear the violas that well ...

I am not familiar with the (supposed popular) Schuman concerto. It is about 30 minutes long, in three movements (Allegro affettuoso; Intermezzo: Andante grazioso; Allegro vivace). It is a pleasant piece, and the audience's applause was enthusiastic afterwards. The program notes talk about Schumann characterizing his dual musical personality as fiery Florestan and dreamy Eusebius, and this piece is more on the dreamy side, which (supposedly) was quite unusual for music of that period as composers tended to write for the virtuoso. I think back on what Joshua Bell said about virtuoso versus “deep” music during the New Year's New York Philharmonic concert (parts of which we saw on TV): the distinction is artificial, and both kinds of music should be treated with respect.

The Bruckner Symphony is rather long at about 60 minutes (it was certainly longer than the 53 minutes listed in the program notes). The program notes made a big deal about this being the L. Nowak 1952 edition. I suspect if I listen to this many times, I'd care. And how many in tonight's audience had listened to this symphony (or any Bruckner symphony, for that matter) enough times to care? Sometimes the pretentiousness of the program annotator (in this case James M Keller) is a bit much. The four movements are (i) Majestoso; (ii) Adagio: Very solemn; (iii) Scherzo: Not fast – Trio: Slow; and (iv) Finale: Moving, but not too fast. I also wonder why Bruckner would state his tempo in Latin and English :)

Muti is a well-known conductor, and we have seen him a couple of times. He looks younger than I would have thought. He seldom (if ever) laughs, but I assume he enjoys the music.

See the New York Times review. I am not sure what the reviewer is saying about the Bruckner sympony.