New York Philharmonic Open Rehearsal – Bernard Labadie, conductor; Miah Persson, soprano. November 7, 2013.

Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center.  Orchestra Right ($0.)

Program

Cantata No. 51, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51 (1730) by J.S. Bach (1685-1750).

“Let the Bright Seraphim,” from the oratorio Samson, HWV 57 (1742) by Handel (1685-1759).

Requiem, K.626 (1791; completed by Robert D. Levin, 1993) by Mozart (1756-91).

Artists

Miah Persson, soprano; Stephanie Blythe, mezzo-soprano; Frederic Antoun, tenor; Andrew Foster-Williams, bass; Matthew Muckey, trumpet; New York Choral Artists, Joseph Flummerfelt, director.

CS asked us to come along to this open rehearsal and provided complimentary tickets for the event.  Since all we had to do was to get up early enough to catch the 8:12 am train into the city, we readily agreed.

It was an enjoyable and fun way to spend half a morning to see how the concert is put together.  For the most part, the conductor went through an entire piece before working on specific segments.  Thus the audience got the chance to hear the pieces played without interruption.  (He did do a few restarts on the Requiem.)

The Playbill contains some interesting facts about the compositions that are worth repeating.  The Cantata (Praise God in every nation) does not call for a chorus, with the soprano being the only voice heard; a rarity for Bach.  And Bach usually didn’t designate his compositions as cantatas; this is one of the few exceptions.  The biblical account of Samson ends with Samson destroying the temple, killing himself and many others in the process.  Handel chose to end the oratorio (“long and intense,” per Playbill) with a hopeful aria and chorus (“Let the Bright Seraphim” and “Let Their Celestial Concerts All Unite.”)

Many know the strange and sad story behind Mozart’s Requiem.  Even though it was commissioned by Count Franz von Walsegg-Stuppach through an anonymous message, most listeners associate the Requiem with Mozart’s own death.  The reality was Mozart was busy with his other compositions until shortly before his death, so he probably didn’t think much about his own mortality much, except at the end.  Mozart never completed the mass, reaching the beginning of Lacrimosa (about half way.)  There have been many attempts at completing this Requiem, with varying degrees of legitimacy.  The edition used for these performances was completed by Robert D. Levin in 1993.  This is stated matter-of-factly in the Playbill, but I find it unbelievable that a version completed so late is considered the most Mozartean – even though Levin did draw on a lot of prior work.

From what we heard in the rehearsal, the concert would have sounded great.  Even though we were warned that the vocalists may dial back a bit to save their vocal chords, they all sounded great.  Miah Persson has major roles in all three pieces (well, she is the only vocalist in the first two), and she sang strongly and beautifully.  I have always enjoyed Stephanie Blythe’s singing, and today was no exception.  Both the tenor and the bass were great.  Most of the singing in the Requiem was done by the chorus, and they sang beautifully throughout, amazingly in some instances.  The trumpet provided delightful obbligato lines for the Bach and Handel pieces.  (The Playbill gives equal billing to all the soloists, since I thought Perssons did a lot more work, I put her in the headline.)

We heard Labadie in March 2012 conducting Les Violons du Roy and La Chapelle de Quebec in Carnegie Hall in a performance of Bach’s St. John Passion. I was just so-so with that performance.  This time was very different.  He was engaged, I suspect some performers may say a bit too engaged, including some remarks he made about the chorus that made me wonder if Flummerfelt would be defensive about.  He was always good-natured about it, though, saying “thank you very much” again and again.

Since Labadie is supposed to be a baroque and classical specialist, it is not surprising that he didn’t need the score for the 55-minute long Mozart Requiem.  What I found incredible was how he remembered all the places he wanted to work on after running through the piece once.  And he started from the end, no less.

I do wonder if I would find the actual concert emotionally uplifting.  During this open rehearsal my feelings were limited to admiring the skill and professionalism of the people involved.  A quick check of the Philharmonic website indicated that all three concerts were sold out.  Let’s be honest, given I am not particularly enthusiastic about Bach or Mozart (what heresy), and given my prior exposure to Labadie, this concert probably wouldn’t make it on my radar.

The rehearsal took longer than I expected, lasting until 12:30 pm.  Most of the “reworks” on the Requiem had to do with the chorus, but the soloists had to remain on stage for all that time.  They seemed good-natured about it though.  Since I couldn’t hear Labadie consistently (even though we were seated up front), I had little idea what specifics he was trying to accomplish; yet I felt it would be very disruptive and disrespectful to leave, so we all sat there until the end.  It costs $18 for an open rehearsal ticket, and you can get a very good seat for that price; it makes one wonder if these are not preferable to the actual concerts themselves.

I was looking for a New York Times review of the performance.  Evidently none has been published as of November 9.  One was published on Nov 12.  The reviewer liked the performance, and gave explained how the new score by Levin is superior to the edition completed by Mozart's pupil Franz Xaver Sussmayr.