New York Philharmonic – Vladimir Jurowski, conductor; Nicola Benedetti, violin. May 23, 2014.

Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center.  Orchestra 1 (Seat S101, $67.)

Program

Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 35 (1916) by Szymanowski (1882-1937).

Selections from Cinderella (Zolushka) (1940-44) by Prokofiev (1891-1953).

I didn’t include this concert as part of the season subscription due to two reasons: I didn’t quite get the violin concerto when I heard it performed a couple of years ago by Glenn Dicterow; and though I enjoyed Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet (both in concert and as a ballet), I didn’t feel a particular urge to listen to it again.  The astute reader will say “but this is a different ballet.”  Indeed it is, somehow my mental block didn’t clear until a couple of weeks ago.  Meanwhile, NY Phil was offering $59/$39 seats; so the stars are in alignment.  I also found out Janine Jansen, who was on the program, had to withdraw, and Nicola Benedetti would be performing.  Benedetti certainly has an impressive resume, including an appointment as MBE in 2013.

I don’t recall much from Dicterow’s performance, except (perhaps) remarking why would he make such a selection and that the New York Times reviewer says Dicterow “owns” this concerto.  A second hearing does allow one to gain more insight into a particular composition.  Indeed the Playbill notes (which I read online the day before) makes the music quite interesting, describing how Symanowski’s music was influenced by others such as Chopin and Wagner, and how he tried to establish a Polish style.  The concerto was written for his close friend Pawel Kochanski, with the latter contributing most of the cadenza at the end.

In many ways this was a better performance; however, better doesn’t mean good – I was just a little less puzzled by the composition.  Since Benedetti was called upon to play on short notice, use of the music score is understandable; she wasn’t glued to the music as Dicterow was, actually.  There is no doubt the music calls for great virtuosity from the performer with its difficult double stop and harmonics passages; surprisingly there was little use of the pizzicato or staccato.  I also wonder about the need for the cadenza; it didn’t appear to be any more difficult than the composition, and didn’t sound like a recap of the music either.  There was some drama at the end, but not nearly enough to make this sound much more an etude to me.

One other surprise was the violin, a 1717 Stradivarius.  I expected it to sound much fuller and more brilliant than it did.  Benedetto also had more problems with intonation than I expected.  Someone was sound asleep in the audience during a good part of the performance.  I wonder if there is an etiquette to what his (unlikely her) neighbors should do – a gentle poke?

Prokofiev extracted between seven to eight movements of Cinderella to create three different orchestral suites.  He reworked the music for an orchestral presentation without regard for the story.  For this concert Jurowski utilized 21 movements that keeps the story line intact. For completeness, the selections are as follows.  From Act One: Introduction (Andante dolce), Pas de chale (Allegretto), Cinderella (Andante dolce), the Sisters’ New Clothes (Vivo), The Dancing Lesson (Allegretto), Cinderella Dreams of the Ball (Andante dolce), Fairy Godmother Returns (Adagio).  From Act Two: Dance of the Courtiers (Andante grazioso), Mazurka and Entrance of the Prince (Allegretto), Grand Waltz (Allegretto), Promenade (Allegro tranquillo), Duet of the Prince and Cinderella (Adagio), Waltz-Coda (Allegro espressivo), Midnight (Allegro moderato – Moderato).  From Act Three: The Prince’s First Galop (Presto – Andante), Temptation (Moderato – Allegretto), The Prince’s Second Galop (Presto), The Prince’s Visit (Vivace), The Prince Finds Cinderella (Adagio passionate), Amoroso (Andante dolcissimo).

I saw the Rossini opera where the storyline didn’t follow the “traditional” fairy tale.  The movement descriptions above are straightforward enough.  Except oftentimes I couldn’t tell when a movement ends and the next one begins.  Without dancers on stage telling the story, most people probably would find it difficult to reconstruct the narrative.  Actually for most part the music sounded just so-so, without drama.  One notable exception was when mid-night approaches: the tick-tock sound of the wood blocks followed by bells chiming twelve times added quite a bit of urgency (this was lacking in the Rossini opera).  Indeed the music from Act 3 did have some sense of urgency and ecstasy in it.

I was surprised this series of concerts constituted the debut for Jurowski with the New York Philharmonic.  I did watch his brother Dmitri conduct the Hong Kong Philharmonic three years ago.  Compared to Dmitri, Vladimir’s movements were more exaggerated.  The orchestra seemed to respond well.  Unfortunately, I do not know the music on today’s program well enough to distinguish between a good and a great performance.

The New York Times reviewer has a lot of good things to say about the Syzmanowski piece.  She isn’t that enamored of the Prokofiev ballet either, opining – among other misgivings – that it is too long.  ABT will be performing this ballet in June.  The ballet is even longer at close to two hours; I am a bit tempted to go see it, though.

I went to the 2 pm concert by myself, taking PATH into the city from Jersey City and going back to New Jersey via NJ Transit.