Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Orchestra (Seat
Y104, $54).
Program – ALL-BEETHOVEN
Pre-concert Recital: Sonata No. 2 in A manor, Op. 2, No.
2 (1794-95).
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major (1795).
Symphony No. 6 in F major (“Pastoral”) (1808).
I was a little surprised to get an e-mail from Atrium
Discount Tickets that half-price tickets were available for this program. One would think with Emanuel Ax the concerts
will be sold out. Since we didn’t want
to spend the entire day in the city, we decided to try our luck by taking the
4:30 pm train into town (summer Friday traffic is usually bad), which got us to
Lincoln Center about 5:45 pm. Tickets
were available for the $100 and $85 seats, and we decided to splurge on the
more expensive ones. We had enough time
to eat something simple at Empire Szechuan, and still made it to attend the 7
pm pre-concert.
The attendance for the pre-concert is quite good. The sonata is early Beethoven, and is quite
Mozartian in its simplicity. The
contrasts characteristic of Beethoven’s later works are not there. As I said on prior occasions, I have a hard time
distinguishing between a good and a great Mozart performance, and – to the
extent this work sounds like Mozart – that applies here also. However, I was not prepared for how disjoint
the piece sounded. And I never thought I
would say I wish he used a bit more pedaling.
Nonetheless the piece was nice to listen to. The sonata has four movements: Allegro
vivace, Largo appassionato; Scherzo: Allegretto; Rondo: Grazioso.
The attendance for the “regular” concert was very
good. There were a few empty seats in our
row – probably the last $100 seat row – but the rows before us were quite well
occupied. So were the first and second
tiers; the third tier was closed off, though.
One would never guess the concerto and the sonata were
written at about the same time. Compared
to the sonata, the concerto requires a lot more virtuosity from the
pianist. There is much discussion in the
Program Notes about the concerto labeled as “second” was actually the first
written, but Beethoven wanted his first published work to be more substantial. The three movements are Allegro con brio, Adagio
and Rondo: Molto allegro. Anne and I are
both certain that we have heard this many times, but we also seem to be
familiar with the third movement only.
While as an “even numbered” symphony, the sixth would be
considered one of Beethoven’s mild compositions. The symphony is unusual in that it has five
movements, and Beethoven’s markings also constitute a program: (1) Allegro ma
non troppo: Awakening of cheerful feelings upon arriving in the country; (2)
Andante molto mosso: Scene by the brook; (3) Allegro: Merry gathering of
peasants –; (4) Allegro: Tempest, storm –; and (5) Allegretto: Shepherds’ hymn –
Happy and thankful feelings after the storm.
Given the number of references to storm and tempest, some degree of
contrast is to be expected. And indeed
there are. Here I wished there was a bit
more to the dynamics. Several themes are
repeated quite often, and can sound that way if not played well. And it sounded repetitive. For the storm the piccolo is used, so the
player has to sit through the 40+ minute composition to put in a few loud
tweets. The poor lady seemed to have a
difficult time staying awake. The first
flute had quite a workout, in contrast, and the flutist did well.
I did not expect a lot from the performance, viewing it
as a good way to while away a summer evening.
In that regard I didn’t sit through the concert with too critical an
ear. I guess I could have written a
simple review like “A light program providing good entertainment for a summer
evening.” Which is true.
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