New York Philharmonic – Alan Gilbert, conductor. January 16, 2015.

New York Philharmonic – Alan Gilbert, conductor.  January 16, 2015.

Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Orchestra 2 Left (Seat BB104, $67.00).

Program

Requiem Mass (1873-1875) by Verdi (1813-1901).

Artists

Angela Meade, soprano; Lilli Paasikivi, mezzo-soprano; Russell Thomas, tenor; Eric Owens, bass-baritone.

New York Choral Artists, Joseph Flummerfelt, director.

I am typing this on January 19, only 3 days after the concert itself, but need to be brief as I also wanted to finish up the review on a January 18 concert.

Another reason for the brevity of course was that we saw this concert last April with the New Jersey Symphony, conducted by Lacombe.  What I want to do here is mostly to contrast how I feel about the two concerts, for which I need to refer back to my blog on the NJ Symphony performance as my recollection of the specifics is vague.

Avery Fisher Hall is much bigger than State Theater, so the sounds were naturally quite different.  While State Theater felt more intimate, Avery Fisher’s size somehow conveyed more of the solemnity of the occasion; consequently the warmer sound in the State Theater was an interesting contrast to Avery Fisher.  I am okay with either “arrangement.”

The soloists all did well.  Both Angela Meade and Eric Owens are well-known figures from the opera stage.  Russell Thomas was a stand-in for the scheduled tenor, it turns out we heard him at the NJ Symphony performance.

I enjoyed the concert, even though it was on a solemn subject.  After giving it considerable thought, I decided not to declare a “winner” between the NY Philharmonic and NJ Symphony: they were both enjoyable in their own ways.

The gentleman auditioning for the concertmaster’s position was leading the orchestra again.  I have found out more information about him since: his name is Frank Huang, and he is currently the concert master at Houston Symphony, he was born in Beijing in 1978 and came to the USA when he was seven.

The New YorkTimes review is brief but generally positive, describing the performance as “powerful” but not quite “transcendent.”  The critic had positive things to say about all the soloists, with only some reservation accorded Thomas.

Reid wasn’t feeling very well, so we picked him up from day care at around noon time.  After we were “off duty” we got into New York City early enough to have dinner at Hunan on 72^nd Street.  The trip home was a breeze also.