Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Orchestra 3 Center
(Seat HH111, $46.50).
Program
Quintet in A major, D.667, Trout (1819) by Schubert
(1797-1828).
Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70 (1884-85) by Dvorak
(1841-1904).
Quintet: Michelle Kim, violin; Rebecca Young, viola;
Carter Brey, cello; Satoshi Okamoto, bass; Anne-Marie McDermott, piano.
This was the first New York Philharmonic concert for us
this season, and I was rather looking forward to it. If I am in the mood to listen to music, but
not sure what I really want, the Trout Quintet would be one of the
possibilities. I haven’t listened to
that many of Dvorak Symphonies (Eighth and, of course, Ninth) and the concert
would broaden my exposure to this composer.
Turns out we heard the seventh symphony in early 2006, I will get back
to that later.
Schubert’s quintet was written while he was vacationing
in Steyr in Upper Austria. It was played
by his friends in private, and wasn’t published until after his death. Despite its being characterized as one of the
most popular pieces of chamber music, I remember only hearing it once, when I
was a graduate student, at Sage Chapel, played by a student quintet. I also have a 1996 CD with the artists
Emanuel Ax, Pamela Frank, Rebecca Young, Yo-Yo Ma, and Edgar Meyer, which I
have listened to numerous times. Yes, it
is the same Rebecca Young. The five
movements of the piece are: (i) Allegro vivace; (ii) Andante; (iii) Scherzo,
Presto – Trio; (iv) Thema. Andantino –
Variazioni I-V – Allegretto; and (v) Allegro giusto. Only the fourth movement is based on the
eponymous earlier work of Schubert, which tells of a story of a fisherman's eventual successful attempt at catching a trout. The variations were in turn led by the
violin, the piano, the viola, and then jointly by the cello and the bass. We then lost track as the last part of the
movement saw all the instruments taking part in the lead initially.
After all these years of enjoying the piece either on CD
or in my mind, there is now probably an idealized version in my head. And alas, today’s performance didn’t quite
meet that standard. The instruments
sounded flat and heavy-footed, the violin every now and then had a (slight)
intonation problem, and the piece generally lacked the playfulness I came to
expect of it. Technically the
performance was close to flawless (again, only gripe was the intonation
problems), and it is a relatively easy piece to perform.
I had no recollection at all of Dvorak’s
Seventh, and initially had thought we were listening to it for the first
time. Most people think of the New World
when the words Dvorak and Symphony are thrown together. In that work melodies abound, and the
movements all show their distinct characteristics. The Seventh, however, sounded like one huge
continuous canvass, even though distinct movements exist (Allegro maestoso,
Poco adagio, Vivace – Poco meno mosso and Allegro). If I didn’t know it was Dvorak, I would have
guessed Mahler.
Even though the orchestration calls for relatively few
non-string instruments, the size of the orchestra was huge; the stage was
filled from side to side. The coughing
between movements was a bit much, and – perhaps for that reason – there was
only minimal pause between the third and fourth movements. I guess the flu and cold season already
started.
After writing the above observations on the Dvorak
Symphony, I went back and read my impression after hearing it in January
2006, and discovered that I had a completely different take of that
performance, agreeing with the “taut and rigorous” description by the Program
Annotator. I also put Dvorak in the "definitely-no-Mahler" category. Perhaps the conductor does
matter? Also, there was no pause between the last two movements either, so my theory about it being triggered by all the coughing is incorrect.
Some other interesting tidbits about the work: it was
commissioned and first performed by the Royal Philharmonic, and Dvorak himself
was quite pleased with it.
By the way, the Port Authority recently raised the tolls
to New York to $12, which now makes the trip into NYC quite expensive. On the other hand, we have managed to find
less expensive parking in the area, so things are balancing out somewhat.
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