New York Philharmonic – Antonio Pappano, Conductor; Joshua Bell, Violin. April 10, 2010.

Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Orchestra 2 (Seat Z13, $59).

Program
Symphony No. 31 in D major, Paris, K.297/300a (1778) by Mozart (1756-91).
Scottish Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 46 (1879-80) by Bruch (1838-1920).
Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 (1884-85) by Brahms (1833-97).

On our way to New York we were listening to one of Mozart's later symphonies on WQXR, and I remarked that it was a bit long for Mozart. I was “vindicated” by tonight’s Symphony as it was only 16 minutes in length per the program. It was actually a bit longer than that, perhaps a whopping 17 minutes.

Tonight’s conductor is with The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, and is the youngest person to have been appointed to that position. Per Wikepedia, Pappano was born in December 1959, making him only 50 years old.

I had never seen anyone conduct Mozart with as much gusto as Pappano. He was very into it, waving his arms, shaking his legs (no kidding), moving briskly from one side of the podium to the other. The orchestra responded with a very spirited rendition of the piece. I somewhat doubted whether he needed all the motion to get the sound he wanted. However, it was a very enjoyable performance.

This symphony was written when Mozart was in Paris. In deference to French taste (I guess), the concerto has only three movements: Allegro assai, Andante, and Allegro. There was this interesting discussion on whether the second movement was the original one (which everyone had assumed until 1981) or the one revised at the request of Jean Le Gros, the director of the Concert Spirituel. I guess for someone like me the issue would be how does the other one sound like. Mozart wrote this when he was 22, after a hiatus of 3 ½ years; since this is Symphony No. 31, that means he had written 30 before he turned 19!

The Program Notes mentions that Bruch’s most famous violin work is his concerto in G minor. Since I have never seen this piece being played at the New York Philharmonic (or anywhere else for that matter), the question is why go with the Scottish Fantasy?

In any case, Bruch wrote this while he was angling for a job in Great Britain. He used may famous Scottish folk songs as the basis for this piece which is divided into four movements (or five, depending on how one counts the first one): Prelude: Grave – Adagio cantabile; Allegro; Andante sostenuto; Finale: Allegro guerriero. Perhaps it is where we sat, I found Joshua Bell and his Strad to be a bit on the weak side, not so much that I had to strain to hear him, but nonetheless I wish he had sounded clearer. This is undoubtedly a difficult piece, including a lot of double stops and harmonics; every now and then I detected an intonation problem. Looking back at my other blogs about his performances, I find out I had similar problems with him before also.

The Program Notes also contains an interesting discussion on the rivalry between the two eminent violinists of that time: Joachim and Sarasate, and that Bruch dedicated the piece to Sarasate even though Joachim was the one that gave him the most advice. One more fact, the piece when published was called “Fantasia for Violin with Orchestra and Harp, with Free Use of Scottish Folk Melodies.”

I didn’t recall what Brahm’s Fourth Symphony sounded like until I heard the opening phrases. I am quite sure I had played the piece before, but I am embarrassed to say the fourth movement didn’t sound familiar – perhaps I fell asleep during rehearsal? Pappano quieted down during the Bruch piece, but his energetic movements came back for this, which was way more appropriate than during Mozart. The Program Notes had an unusually detailed description of the movements: (i) Allegro no troppo: soaring and intense; (ii) Andante moderato: by turns agitated and serene; (iii) Allegro giocoso: first time Brahms included a real scherzo in a symphony, in contrast to the lighter allegretto intermezzos that had served as the third movements of his first three; and (iv) Allegro energico e passionate – Piu allegro: Brahms unleashes a gigantic passacaglia, a neo-Baroque structure in which an eight-measure progression (derived from the last movement of J.S. Bach’s Cantata No. 150) is subjected to 32 variations of widely varying character. The last movement looks interesting on paper, except I didn’t quite hear it that way.

The audience showed a lot of enthusiasm afterwards and gave Pappano a long applause. Speaking of which, the Program Notes seems to say during Mozart’s day people would make remarks as the music was being played; unimaginable today.

The New York Times has an insightful review of the performance, although I am not sure I am in full agreement with the reviewer’s points of view.