Avery Fisher
Hall at Lincoln Center, Orchestra (Seat GG101, $40.)
Program
Symphony No. 6
in F major, Op. 68 (“Pastoral”) (1806-08) by Beethoven (1770-1827).
Symphonia
domestica, Op. 53 (1902-03) by Strauss (1864-1949).
Due to the birth
of our third grandchild, Anne and I are spending most of July in the Boston
area. I came back by myself for a long
weekend to take care of various chores at home. Earlier this week I found out
from a Goldstar mailing that half-price tickets were on sale for this series of
concerts, and bought tickets to two events: Friday and Saturday. I took the train.
This would be my
first exposure to the orchestra and the conductor. The Cleveland Orchestra has been around for a
while (since 1918, says the web) and it’s one of the “Big Five” in the US;
before Welser-Most, its conductors were Szell, Boulez, Maazel, and von
Dohnanyi. For me the one known fact
about Welser-Most was he recently resigned from the Vienna State Opera due to “artistic
differences”; I was surprised that he has been with the Cleveland Orchestra
since 2002.
Today’s program
is quite interesting. Beethoven’s was
written at the start of the 19th Century, and Strauss’s 20th. Both can be considered program music, with
the composers providing some level of description for what stories the music
was trying to tell. For the five
movements of Beethoven’s sixth we have (I) Awakening of cheerful feelings upon
arriving in the country: Allegro ma non troppo; (II) Scene by the brookside:
Andante molto mosso; (III) Jolly gathering of country folk: Allegro; (IV)
Thunderstorm, Tempest: Allegro; and (V) Shepherd’s Song: Gladsome and thankful
feelings after the storm: Allegretto.
Strauss withdrew most of his commentary from the score, possibly due to
the embarrassment it may cause. It was
included in today’s Playbill: (I) Introduction and Development of the Main
Themes - (i) The husband’s themes: easy-going, dreamy, fiery; (ii) The wife’s
themes: lively and free-spirited, grazioso; (iii) The child’s theme:
tranquil. (II) Scherzo – (i) Happiness
of the parents, (ii) Childish games, (iii) Cradle song (lullaby), (iv) The
clock strikes seven in the evening.
(III) Adagio – (i) Doing and thinking; (ii) Love scene; (iii) Dreams and
worries; (iv) The clock strikes seven in the morning. (IV) Finale – (i) Awakening and merry dispute
(double fugue); (ii) Joyous confusion.
Much music has
been written about nature and outdoor scenes: for example, many of Debussy’s
works (la mer, children’s corner) and Wagner’s (Overture to Flying Dutchman),
and of course, Beethoven’s (moonlight sonata, although he didn’t call it by
that name.) This tone poem (I guess
Symphonia domestica falls into that category) is unusual in that it describes a
day in the life of the composer. Strauss
is not known for his modesty, having written Ein Heldenleben as a tribute to
himself at the age of 34; here the music depicts just an ordinary day.
The Pastoral Symphony
in and of itself is lovely, and I assume any competent orchestra can make it
enjoyable. However, this one felt
definitely different after 20 or so notes (the first phrase has 13 by my count.) The sound was just gorgeous – we are talking
about Avery Fisher without the best acoustics, and a statement was clearly
being made. And the rest of the
performance lived up to the promise. The
walk was scenic, the dances were happy, the storms were severe but over quickly,
and the birds sang beautifully. It was by
no means a flawless reading, and every now and then some chaos crept in. I am reminded of Emmanuel Ax’s playing, a
slip every now and then does not detract from the overall interpretation of the
composition. During intermission I
posted on my Facebook page: odd for a walk in the woods – moving.
A performance
that would have made Beethoven proud.
This is the
third time I heard Symphonia Domestica.
The description in the Playbill certainly helped, especially illuminating
was the description of the three note sequences that denote Strauss and his
wife Pauline. It also paints a rather
unflattering picture of her – boisterous, shrewd, whatever, however we don’t
need to worry too much as the couple were married for over 50 years.
It is
embarrassing that even with all this help, I still couldn’t quite follow the
music closely. Most notably I missed the
first time the clocked chimed “seven.”
However, I am sure I got more out of this listening than my previous
two. Not only were the two “themes” (if
one could call three-note fragments that) very helping in deciding who was
being talked about, many of the melodies, such as they are, came across clearly. The notes in the Taipei program from last
October talks about aunts and uncles, no mention of them here.
This is a large
orchestra (I counted nine basses, and New York Philharmonic has eight), and
could produce a commensurate volume of sound.
I hope it wasn’t nearly as boisterous in the Strauss household as
tonight’s performance would suggest.
However, as an abstract piece of music the loud sound made it enjoyable.
Welser-Most
doesn’t seem to believe in the economy of motion. His arms were carving giant curves all
through the program. Yet he could elicit
a soft voice from the orchestra when necessary.
Even though the fourth tier of the auditorium was closed off, and the
third tier only had few people sitting in it, the applause afterwards was
certainly as enthusiastic as any I have seen.
And when Welser-Most asked the woodwind and brass sections to stand up,
perhaps as many as 40 people did.
Curtain call, The Cleveland Orchestra with Franz Welser-Most.
The Program
Notes in the Playbill is among the best I have seen. Without using too many words, the annotator
Hugh McDonald added a lot of insight into the music and the program. Indeed if this blog entry is
uncharacteristically insightful, it is becauseI borrowed a lot of his ideas. And, as they say, the “verboseness is all
mine.”
It was about
11:30 pm when I got back home.
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