New York Philharmonic – Riccardo Muti, Conductor; Andras Schiff, Piano. March 5, 2010.

Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Tier 1 Center (Seat DD07, $59).

Program
Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 (1858) by Brahms (1833-97).
Symphony in E-flat for Large Orchestra (1940) by Hindemith (1895-1963).

This was our fourth concert for the week, which must be some sort of a record for me. I still enjoyed the concert, but writing about it could get a bit tedious. We will see.

As I said in my last blog, Muti is spending about three weeks in Lincoln Center conducting Attila and a couple of New York Philharmonic concerts. We originally had tickets for the series next week with Repim playing the Beethoven violin concerto, but had to switch to this one as we will be away.

Brahms wrote two piano concertos, to me the more familiar one being the second with a serene opening. The first movement of tonight’s concert (Maestoso) began with a much faster paced statement and longish introduction by the orchestra, with the piano working its way in quietly about four minutes into the 23 plus minute movement. Having just heard a concert in Carnegie Hall, one immediately notices the difference in acoustics between that renowned concert hall and Avery Fisher. In the former you can hear each section (perhaps even instrument) clearly, here everything sounds a bit muddled. Orchestra seats may have better acoustics, but then all you see are the musicians seated in the front. In any case, Schiff was clearly in command of the music and the interplay between the soloist and the orchestra was very good. There were a couple of passages where he sounded weak and a bit flat, though. Probably because I slept through its playing (or skipped over it when heard on a CD), the second movement (Adagio) didn’t sound familiar at all. The Rondo – Allegro non troppo, began by the soloist, then followed in turn by various strings, got me back on track to enjoying the performance. While the piece was quite enjoyable overall, I didn’t quite get the excitement one should when one takes into account what the music could sound like.

Joachim, whom I knew collaborated with Brahms on his violin concerto, also helped with reassuring the composer that he had a good thing going. He also conducted the premiere of the work with Brahms as the soloist.

When I studied music theory at Cornell, the textbook we used (forget whether it was first or second year) was written by Paul Hindemith. I was sure he taught at Harvard, turns out it was Yale. The Program Notes has an interesting discussion on his background (fled Germany with the ascendancy of the Third Reich,) his ability to play many different instruments, and how the Minneapolis Symphony got to do the premiere because of hemming-and-hawing on the part of Boston Symphony. Commensurate with Hindemith’s decline in popularity, this symphony was last played by New York Philharmonic in 1967.

The symphony lives up to the description of being a “classically structured, four-movement symphony.” The first movement (Very lively) began with a brass introduction that sounded steady and assured, and proceeded at a very lively pace. The second movement (Very slowly) had the oboe and clarinet repeating many times what passes as a tune. The dominance moved to other parts of the orchestra, including horns and flutes. The third movement (Lively) saw the use of the rute which (I think) sounded like a whipped leather belt. The playing got crisper as the movement continued. But at some point the music began to wander – to be fair, it may be my mind that was doing the wandering – and eventually we knew we were in the fourth movement (Moderately fast half-notes) that ended in a march-like manner.

Muti was quite in command and seemed to get the response he needed from the orchestra. I wonder how I would enjoy the concert if the program had contained a more familiar piece than the Hindemith Symphony instead.

The New York Times reviewer was swept away by the Hindemith piece, despite his dislike of the third movement. He characterizes the New York Philharmonic performance as “brilliant.” Wow, wonders never cease.