New York Philharmonic – Alan Gilbert, conductor; Yefim Bronfman, piano. January 8, 2010.

Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, First Tier Center (Seat BB11, $59).

Program
Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16 (1912-13/1924) by Prokofiev (1891-1953).
Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27 (1906-08) by Rachmaninoff (1873-1943).

Chung Shu drove us into New York. It took us more than 90 minutes to get to Lincoln Tunnel from our house, so we were quite surprised to see how empty the city looked when we exited the tunnel. Except for a long line of buses, there were very few cars on the road. We grabbed a quick dinner at Ollie’s before the concert.

After an exciting beginning, the first movement (Andantino – Allegretto - Andantino) of the Prokofiev concerto became a bit non-descriptively for me so I had to make sure I didn’t doze off. But that was only for a short while; I was riveted through the rest of the piece. The pianist soon launched into a long solo/cadenza passage and was eventually joined by the orchestra to finish the movement. The second movement is marked Scherzo (Scherzo: Vivace) but it was more like a virtuoso piece for the pianist that was brilliant but not necessarily humorous. The duet with the clarinet was fascinating both technically and contrapuntally. The clarinet was played by an Asian gentleman that we had not seen before; and we couldn’t find any Asian clarinetist in the orchestra roster. In any case, he was congratulated by the principal bassoonist after he was done; many in the audience undoubtedly breathed a sign of relief and admiration. The third moment, called an intermezzo (Intermezzo: Allegro moderato), is nothing like an intermezzo Brahms would have written. It was more like a march. The fourth movement (Finale: Allegro tempestoso) brought the performance to a climatic conclusion. The audience showed their appreciation with a prolonged applause; Bronfman came out several times.

I like Prokofiev, but usually only after I have heard a piece several times since his music is a bit “deep” for me to appreciate upon first hearing. This is an exception. Perhaps it’s because he wrote it when he was only 21 and thus had not developed his complex structures yet? Believe me, the piece is complex enough.

Several other interesting facts. The music was destroyed in a fire while Prokofiev was overseas, and he rewrote it from his memory and sketches more than ten years later. So this may or may not be close to the “original.” Indeed Prokofiev claimed he had incorporated new material in the work. Like Ravel, Prokofiev wasn’t sure he could play his only composition either, but he managed to do it, to mixed reviews, though.

Rachmaninoff only predated Prokofiev by about 12 years, but his music was still basically romantic. The program notes thinks this Symphony can be considered the last grand romantic symphony. It is a bit long at 58 minutes.

The negative reception to Rachmaninoff’s first symphony was so poor that he needed a psychologist and hypnosis to get him back into composing. Evidently he had great counselors as the second symphony is a beautiful piece of music. The orchestration is such that the sounds are very rich, and the melodies are very pleasant.

The tempo markings for the first two movements are Largo – Allegro moderato and Allegro molto – Meno mosso – Tempo I. The third movement (Adagio) is very familiar. Again the clarinet played an important role. The melody is very singable, melancholic, and has a yearning quality to it. Many symphonies have slow movements that may be nice but are not exceptional compared to other movements. Notable exceptions are Beethoven’s Seventh, Mahler’s Fifth, and this one.

Interestingly, the theme from the third movement was used again in the last movement (Allegro vivace – Adagio – Tempo precedente). Perhaps Rachmaninoff liked it very much and wanted to hear it again himself!

Alan Gilbert notes in the Program that the pieces were written by Russian composers and the soloist is from Russia, and that the audience would enjoy the evening. (Bronfman was born in Russia and moved to Israel in 1973.) He was absolutely right, tonight ranks as one of the most enjoyable concerts I have been to. I left very happy. It was a very cold night (below freezing, and windy); if we had some snow, it would have been a perfect Moscow winter evening.

Just as I was beginning to doubt how Gilbert would work out as the music director, we have this performance which must be very reassuring to his supporters.

The New York Times review is all-positive. It is unfortunate the reviewer feels the need to implicitly criticize Gilbert's predecessor.