Count Basie
Theater, Red Bank, NJ. Balcony (Seat
E102, $37.60).
Program
Night and the City (2010) by Rogerson (b. 1988).
Piano Concerto
No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30 (1909) by Rachmaninoff.
La Valse (1920)
by Ravel (1875-1937).
Daphnis and
Chloe Suite No. 2 (1912) by Ravel.
This is the
farewell series led by Lacombe after a six-year stint with the NJSO. Coupled with Joyce Yang playing
Rachmaninoff’s piano concerto No. 3, one would think this is a concert not to
be missed. Leave it to New Jersey to
have many empty seats in the small Count Basie Theater. If one’s expectations are low, then that
there were more in attendance today than usual is an encouraging sign. One of the trustees came on to thank Lacombe
(after thanking the sponsors) for taking NJSO to new heights; a statement I
would generally agree with, and I have said multiple times the orchestra plays
well under him.
The six-minute
lead-off piece is by the young composer Chris Rogerson. The piece describes his first experience
living in a big city (Philadelphia). As
new music goes, I liked it very much. It
is quite sonorous, and describes a scene that somehow reminds me more of Van
Gogh’s “Starry Night” than a busy Philly evening. He is young (not yet 30) so should have a lot
of time to improve his craft. He came on
stage at the end of the piece to take a bow.
I haven’t
encountered Rachmaninoff’s Third that often in concert, but have heard it over my
iPhone multiple times during some of the long flights I have
taken. Perhaps there is a reason it is
not played that often, it is close to 40 minutes of non-stop virtuosic playing,
with a break only here or there. Joyce
Yang burst onto the music scene a few years ago as a young woman, so I was
looking forward to this first opportunity to hear her perform.
Overall I was
disappointed. Even when the first piano
notes were played, I was surprised at how loud it was compared to the sound of
the orchestra. My usually complaint is
the soloist gets overwhelmed, in this case it is the opposite. With a few exceptions, the orchestra seemed
to be whimpering along, afraid of intruding on the soloist. While much of this might be attributable to
the acoustics, but I don’t recall having this concern ever inside Count Basie.
I can’t comment
on Yang’s technique, and am indeed very impressed with what I saw. My major issue is the performance seemed to
be simply stringing together a long series of difficult passages, there is no
story, no conversation, and no engagement.
Impressive for most 25-year old pianists, but not quite at the level of
a master. (Yang was born in 1986.) In any case, the applause afterwards was
thunderous.
The three
movements of the concerto are Allegro ma non tanto; Intermezzo: Adagio; and
Finale: Alla breve.
We heard two
Ravel pieces after the intermission. By
now I knew how La Valse started as waltz but devolved into rather dark music to
reflect Ravel’s disappointment with humanity – this was a couple of years
before the first world war. Daphnis and
Chloe was a ballet score Ravel written in cooperation with Sergei
Diaghilev. Suite No. 2 consists of three
movements Lever du jour, Pantomine, and Danse generale. They make up the final scene of the ballet where
Daphnis and Chloe are united, and they mime the story of Pan and Syrinx,
followed by a celebration of their love.
Both pieces are easy to get, although tonight I didn’t think La Valse
sounded all that dark. I gained some
appreciation of how Ravel could use music to depict specific scenes (like
sunrise and birds chirping.)
So that’s it,
end of an era. I was hoping Lacombe’s
tenure would end on a higher note, he deserved it. While I am generally impressed with how he
brought high standards to the orchestra, I do feel things have plateaued for a
while. Where will Xian Zhang take this
organization in the coming years?
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