Program
Overture to Oberon (1826) by Weber (1786-1826).
Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 (1900-1901) by Rachmaninoff (1873-1943).
Symphonic Fantasy on Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman Without a Shadow) (1946) by R. Strauss (1864-1949).
Suite from Der Rosenkavalier (1909-10/1944) by R. Strauss
Having returned from Hong Kong the day before, I wasn’t sure
I could last through the whole evening without succumbing to jet lag. Turns out I did, and during the piece I am most
familiar with; more on that later.
In any case, I picked Anne up at 4 pm, after she was done
with her class for the day. Traffic was
light into the city, and we actually found off street parking after circling
the block a couple of times, total cost for parking on 67th ended up being
$5.50. A quick dinner at Ollie’s gave us
enough time for coffee at the Rubenstein Atrium.
Three of the pieces for the evening are opera-related. Two of them, according to the Program Notes,
are from operas that weren’t too popular.
I do have some prior knowledge of Die Frau ohne Schatten, from an LA
Opera promotion CD dating back about 10 years ago. And Anne insists that WQXR uses a theme from
Der Rosenklavalier quite frequently. All
three operas have interesting stories, although I am not sure that fact is
germane to tonight’s program: the music doesn’t necessarily follow the plot of
the opera.
Carl Maria von Weber is mostly known as an opera composer,
and Oberon was his last. It was a commission
from Covent Garden that may have sapped his strength before he died of
tuberculosis. He died less than two months after the premiere. The Program Notes describes the music quite
well, and it was pleasant to listen to, though not memorable.
Over the years, we have seen quite a few of Strauss’s operas
(not the two on tonight’s program, though.)
One unifying theme about them: they are all difficult to understand, and
the tunes aren’t quite singable. The two
pieces we heard tonight, while not very singable, were quite easy to
grasp. And it turns out what Anne is
familiar with is the waltz within Rosenklavalier, having little to do with the
main story. And an interesting fact, it
is an anachronism as the story took place about a century before waltzes came
into being.
The headliner for the evening was definitely Andre Watts
playing a Rachmaninoff piano concerto. I
have liked Watts since I began listening to his recordings while I was in
college in the 70s, and Rachmaninoff concertos also work out well for those
that can pull them off.
The Program Notes mentions there is always a “take-away”
tune with Rachmaninoff’s concertos, and tonight’s was to be in the third
movement. I actually think there is one
in each of the three movements (Moderato; Adagio sostenuto; and Allegro
scherzando). Too bad I was feeling a bit
drowsy during the performance. From the
parts I was awake for, Watts certainly did a great job with it. Too bad I didn’t listen to enough of it to know
how well he strung them together. The
applause at the end was surely enthusiastic, but my prior experiences with the
New York Phil audience tell me it’s more about the performer, not necessarily
about the performance.
A few words about the Slovakian conductor Valcuha. His movements are a bit exaggerated, though
not animated, but I didn’t the orchestra was particularly responsive.
Another advantage of off-street parking is the easy get-away
after the concert. We were home before
11 pm.
The New York Times reviewer loved the concert, thinking the
conductor was extremely effective.
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