Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Orchestra (Seat GG102, $83.50.)
Program
Symphony No. 1 (1988) by John Corigliano (b. 1938).
Symphony No. 5 in E minor (1888) by Tchaikovsky
(1840-1893).
The first time I heard Dudamel live was quite a few years
ago. I remember saying to myself sometimes
a hype is well-deserved. In the
intervening years, I have had a couple of opportunities to hear him conduct
(Vienna Philharmonic and Yo-yo Ma come to mind) and have great memories with
his performances. Given the bland encounter
with NJSO last night, I was quite looking forward to have my enthusiasm for live
concerts restored. And I wasn’t
disappointed.
The program bears some comment. First the two pieces are written exactly 100
years apart. Indeed in the Playbill
there is a chart comparing the “significant” events in those years. A good concept but the entries aren’t
particularly insightful. To me the more
interesting is both pieces connote some aspects of homosexuality. In Tchaikovsky’s case it is the composer
himself; the Playbill makes it very clear that Corigliano’s composition is rage
towards AIDS and memorial to his fallen friends. In 1988 AIDS was rampant in the gay
community, and being diagnosed with it was tantamount to getting a death
sentence.
And there was a lot of rage and sadness in this 40 minute
work. The markings for the four
movements tell most of the story: (1) Apologue: Of Rage and Remembrance; (2)
Tarantella; (3) Chaconne: Giulio’s Song; and (4) Epilogue. The Playbill notes has a short but good
description of the movements, so I will just record a few aspects that
particularly stuck in my mind. This
symphony employs many different instruments as befits a contemporary
composition: I counted three sets of church bells, a mandolin (didn’t catch it
playing, though), and a whistle. The use
of the note A is much more effective than the notes led me to think, working as
haunting bookends at the beginning and the end, and as punctuation several
times in the piece. The effect of the “off-stage”
piano (we were sure it was at the rear right of the platform as seen by the
audience) was eerie and surreal. It was
playing the familiar Albeniz Tango against the atonal music of the
orchestra. To the extent the orchestra
music had a key, the Tango’s key is slightly off to be disturbing. There was no pause between the last two
movements, and the Epilogue is generally a recap of the first three movements.
The adjectives “dynamic” and “vibrant” are often used in
association with Dudamel. Whatever image
those words conjure up, he was downright subdued today (understand “subdued” is
a relative term.) His feet barely left
the platform, and there was no bar on the conductor’s podium to prevent him
from falling off. But I can’t imagine a
better performance to be elicited from the orchestra. There were a few instances that he counted
out the number of measures by extending successive fingers on his left
hand. I do wonder whether that was
necessary, it is not a percussionist having to wait 127 measures before hitting
the next note, and the rhythm of the music was quite pronounced. Also, his hair is cut shorter, and (alas) he looks more mature than his age (all of 33.)
I remember Corigliano’s name from a prior concert but
didn’t remember what piece I heard. A
check of my blog confirmed that it was the Red Violin, with Joshua Bell
playing. I liked that piece too. Corigliano is about 75 and still teaches at
Julliard and CUNY. He looked quite young
as he came out for a bow.
The two most recent Tchaikovsky symphonies I heard were
the fifth conducted by Blomstedt and the sixth conducted by Gilbert. I remember enjoying both immensely, although
I gave the nod to Gilbert and his more controlled interpretation instead of
letting the orchestra run wild.
Another thought that occurred to me was it would be
difficult to do better than the top of the program. That turned out to be mostly true even as
Dudamel took the music on a wild ride that was quite exhilarating. Actually it started a bit tentatively, but by
the end the gallop was at full speed.
While the Playbill doesn’t dwelve much into the “psychology”
of the music, prior encounters told me this was about Fate (called Providence
by the current annotator.) This time I
didn’t mind at all that Fate knocking on the door multiple times, or that many
other themes were used over and over again. It is simply a great symphony to enjoy.
Starting with a complex and highly emotional piece may have altered
the perception of the second piece. Today the Fifth was quite easy to
understand and follow, and it was not nearly as dark as it supposed to be. Actually it sounded downright sunny, even
with this preponderance of minor key passages.
During the year (2001-2002) I lived in the LA area, I
went to Dorothy Chandler Hall quite often to listen to the LA
Philharmonic. The music director was
Esa-Pekka Salonen. I don’t remember enjoying
the concerts this much.
We rushed out of Avery Fisher after a couple of curtain
calls because we wanted to get back to Jersey City quickly. We heard an encore being played as we got to
the foyer area.
Dudamel will be conducting the New York Philharmonic next
Friday. We have tickets to that series,
it would be interesting to see how that works out. Bruckner’s Ninth is on the program.
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