Richardson Auditorium, Princeton, NJ. Seat Front Parquet (L44, $77).
Program
In Autumn, Op. 11 by Grieg (1843--1907).
Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 47 by Sibelius (1865-1957).
Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90 by Brahms (1833-1897).
Anne was going to a Thanksgiving dinner with her Sunday School students, and there weren't too many interesting programs on TV. Instead of sitting home and vegetate, I decided to buy a ticket to this concert. The attraction for me is the Sibelius violin concerto. Even though I am quite familiar with it, I would love to hear it again.
I bought the ticket earlier today, and was quite surprised at the cost (second most expensive at $74, plus $3 in handling charges.) I have been to Richardson many times before to attend the free Princeton summer chamber music, usually getting there early enough to get rather good seats. The seat I got for this concert is on the right side, quite close to the orchestra (reminds me of our Vienna seating.) Since the stage is a bit higher, I could only look at the feet of a few second violinists. There were several empty seats to my left, so I moved a couple of seats in, and the view there was a bit more reasonable, still poor, though.
The Grieg piece is relatively short at 12 or so minutes. It is quite traditional in both sound and format, and quite pleasant. This so-called concert overture started as one of Grieg's early large orchestra compositions, then got arranged as a piano piece, and got re-orchestrated by Grieg some twenty years later into tonight's form. The history is interesting, but somewhat irrelevant as we would hear only one version (the later one.)
This piece in some sense set the tone for the rest of the evening. The piece is pleasant to listen to and interesting musically. But you wish the orchestra would do a better job with it. Maybe it's the acoustics, or maybe it is the orchestra, the sound just wasn't quite what I expected.
We heard Hadelich perform with the New York Philharmonic last month. We were seated in the first tier of Avery Fisher and I was not particularly impressed with how the performance went, opining that it lacked the intensity and passion one would expect from the Lalo composition.
Today's more intimate setting made a huge difference. The violin certainly sounded great, as one would expect of a Strad. I liked how the more virtuoso first and third movements were played. Even though in today's Program Notes there is no mention of Sibelius's not succeeding as a violin player, that fact (or myth) is indelibly etched in my mind, and I would always think of the concerto as a way for the composer to come to terms with it. Certainly I got the frustration of the first movement, and the acceptance of the third.
The second movement was not at the same level as the other two. I got the impression the soloist is trying to get through it, and the balance with the orchestra was wanting. Overall, I enjoyed this performance more than the Lalo piece.
As if the concerto wasn't difficult enough, for encore Hadelich played Paganini's Caprice No. 24. It is just an amazing piece, and he did a flawless job, the broken hair on his bow evidently didn't bother him the least bit. The audience showed their appreciation with their enthusiastic applause.
I was surprised that I wasn't familiar with Brahm's Third Symphony (except for the third movement.) It is relatively short at about 35 minutes, and has the distinction of having every movement end on a soft passage. This was written during Brahms' mature years (he was 50 years old), and reflects a bit of his melancholy despite being in the key of F major.
The piece is easy to like, and I enjoyed it. That despite the rather sloppy performance by the orchestra. I remarked to Anne there were 12 second violins, and I could hear all twelve of them playing during some of the faster runs.
Overall, I am glad I went. This is a case of sloppy performance being saved by great compositions. I was a bit surprised at the number of empty seats in the auditorium, an entire second row was not occupied. And I am still a bit miffed at how expensive a ticket is. For $70 I can get a decent seat at Lincoln Center, and the 46 Euro seats we got in Vienna certainly were more interesting.
This was the first of three performances of this program. Let's hope they get better in the next two.
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1 comment:
Hi.
I came across your blog, looking for a review of the Fri night NJSO concert.
As regards to your liking neither the price no perspective from the $74 seats you purchased, perhaps you might try the cheaper seats.
In my own concert going experience, I have generally found the less expensive (even the least expensive) seats to be superior acoustically As for the view, binoculars will solve that.
No question that at the MET, for instance, the orchestra seats are hte worst acoustically and the Family Circle and Balcony the best.
AT Avery Fisher Hall, I went to two concerts in the past two weeks, once sitting in third tier and the other on the orchestra section.
No contest, Third Tier was better and aside form the acoustics, the Orch view was terrible, as one could not see the musicians beyond the first row. If I'm going to see something live, I much prefer to see what's happening amongst the entire orchestra.
Carnegie Hall ditto -- the top balcony is great.
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