David Geffen
Hall at Lincoln Center. Orchestra (Seat
U108, $69.50.)
Program
Violin Concerto
in D major, Op. 61 (1806) by Beethoven (1770-1827).
Symphony No. 6
in A major (1879-81, ed. L. Nowak, 1952) by Bruckner (1824-96).
The first thing
one notices about the program is its length.
A 45-minute first half, and a full hour for the second half. While it doesn’t come close to the length of
most operas, it is still a program that requires considerable stamina, both of
the artists and of the audience.
In reading the
Playbill, I found out two things about the Beethoven violin concerto that I
didn’t know before. One is that
Beethoven actually transcribed it into a piano concerto a year after the
concerto’s premiere, the other is that Beethoven actually studied the violin
and was an orchestral violist.
To me the most
amazing part about the concerto is how a brilliant composition was achieved
with mostly scales and arpeggios. The
elegantly dressed (black tie formal) Ehnes - with his erect stance, attacking the
piece with great precision – would be how one would envision a performance of
the concerto. Overall it was a good
experience, although there were a few intonation problems, quite inexplicable
as they occurred during the relatively slow passages. Otherwise he had no problems with the
technique required, including the many fast double stop passages. His violin (the “Marsick” Stradivarius of
1715) makes a good sound, although it didn’t carry as well as I thought most
Strads would, and we were in the middle of the orchestral section.
A Bruckner
Symphony asks a lot of the orchestra and the audience. Today it was especially so since we just sat
through a long violin concerto. The
roughly 1 hour long piece consists of four movements (i) Majestos (Majestic);
(ii) Adagio: Sehr feierlich (very solemn); (iii) Scherzo: Nicht schnell (Not
fast) – Trio: Langsam (Slow); and (iv) Finale: Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell
(Moving, but not too fast.) The movements
are approximately 15, 20, 10 and 15 minutes in length.
My encounter
with Bruckner has been limited, and this is the first time I heard this relatively
obscure sixth symphony. While it has definite
Bruckner elements (think Philip Glass’s slow build up but with a much richer
texture), I must say I would have a hard time identifying as Bruckner other
than by a process of elimination (not Beethoven, not Brahms, not Dvorak, etc.)
The other
interesting aspect of Bruckner is that his works were subject to extensive
revisions, many times by others. It is
generally agreed that this symphony exists only one authentic manuscript (to
quite the Program Notes.)
I still remember
how impressed I was when I heard Zubin Mehta’s performance of Bruckner’s 8th. This one did not nearly rise to that
level. While tonight’s music was
enjoyable, I couldn’t quite get the story behind it. I last listened to this symphony three years
ago (also the last series by the New York Philharmonic, conducted by
Eschenbach) and characterized it as “very loud.” While tonight’s doesn’t fall into that
category, it is still amazing the sound one could achieve with a rather
traditional ensemble – the timpani is the only percussion.
Overall I felt
this was a good concert, though not an inspired one. I do wonder if the length of the program asks
too much of everyone involved, though.
We saw Mena conduct a year ago, interestingly I also considered that
concerto one that didn’t quite live up to its full potential.
The New York Timesreview was unusal in that the reviewer compares this concert with a concert at
Carnegie Hall by the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Nezet-Sequin. While the review about the Philharmonic was
mostly positive, it pales in comparison to what the reviewer thought of
Philadelphia. Oh well …
Earlier today, I
received an email announcement that Jaap van Zweden will be the orchestra’s
next music director, succeeding Alan Gilbert.
Van Zweden currently leads both the Hong Kong Philharmonic and the
Dallas Symphony. I wonder if he would
relinquish both posts to take up this new one.
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