London Symphony Orchestra – Gianandrea Noseda, conductor; Yuja Wang, piano. October 29, 2016.

Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark, NJ.  Tier 2 (Seat D110, $28.50).

Program

Overture to Die Meistersinger (1862) by Wagner (1813-1883).

Piano Concerto in G Major (1929-1931) by Ravel (1875-1937).

Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47 (1937) by Shostakovich (1906-1975).

This was our third concert in three days, although the tickets were bought at different times, and each of them have their special attraction: Xian Zhang debuting as NJSO’s music director, Frank Huang performing Bruch’s violin concerto, and – for tonight – the London Symphony and Yuja Wang.

The London Symphony is based at the Barbican Center, with Simon Rattle as its music director (designate), and Noseda one of its two principal conductors.  The largest ensemble was used in the Shostakovich Symphony, and I counted 92 musicians, plus the conductor.  Each year they perform 70 concerts in London, and another 70 worldwide; I guess they must have transportation logistics down pat.

We saw Die Meistersinger at the Met about two years ago, and am somewhat familiar with the story.  Per the Program Notes, Wagner composed the overture before he did the opera, and included the “Prize Song” in it.  The tunes sounded vaguely familiar, although honestly I wouldn’t have placed it had it not been for the Notes.  Interestingly, at the beginning the orchestra sounded in a disjoint way, similar to what we heard a couple of days ago from the New Jersey Symphony.  However, their sound quickly improved and we enjoyed the piece.  The orchestra is large.  I counted 92 musicians plus the conductor performing the Shostakovich piece.

I had heard the Ravel Concerto in G performed quite a few times before, and each time came away somewhat lost.  The piece certainly was a showcase for the soloist (Ravel couldn’t do it himself), and I would gleam this or that from the performance.  I must say this time I got the most out of it, that it was very jazzy and Gershwin-like came across clearly (particularly the first movement.)  Perhaps it was the performer: Wang certainly made the music very clear, and she could simply make this concerto sing in a way I hadn’t heard before.  Or because it was my finally getting it (or rather more of it) after many attempts.  Another possible reason is how well the orchestra worked with the soloist.  To all that I would add something I did: I looked through the score (thanks to YouTube postings) before the concert, and could make some sense of how the piece is structured.

 Yuja Wang after performing the Ravel Concerto.  Noseda sat in the back as she played her three encores.

Actually I realized a few more things from going through the music beforehand.  One was the paucity of notes for the piano.  Looked at from a distance, the score didn’t appear particularly difficult.  It is only when one looked at the details that one discovers the difficulties with the music.  Second was the rhythm was particularly challenging, at least for someone without a strong jazz background.  Third was the interplay between the piano and orchestra is also difficult to pull off.  These points made my appreciation of the performance that much more.

The Program Notes describes the second movement (Adagio assai) as the heart of the concerto.  I would like to think a lot would be missing if one simply listened to the second movement, as pleasant as it may be.  The first (Allegramente) and third (Presto) movements are what make this piece uniquely Ravel.

Perhaps to make up for the relatively short concerto (about 22 minutes), Wang played three encores in succession.  They were a piece based on various melodies from Carmen, Chopin’s Waltz (op. 64, no. 2), and a modified version of Mozart’s Rondo alla Turca (K. 311).  With the possible exception of Chopin, these were pieces to show off the technical skills of a pianist.  But Wang did much better than that: her musicality came through in the Waltz, and the way she could carry on the “counterpoints” with her two hands was just amazing. 

Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony was written during the height of the Soviet Union’s purge of the cultural scene to make sure every piece of work glorified the revolution.  The works he had completed recently were condemned, so this was also a work to rehabilitate himself.  I don’t know Shostakovich’s music well enough to analyze how he made the changes, but agree with the Program Notes – whose ideas I paraphrased above – that “the language is simplified, … The level of dissonance is lower and the music is contained within a clear formal plan.”  I again had the chance to look at the score (only the first two movements) and was surprised at the simplicity of it all.  The actual sound, however, was a lot more complex – that is what having the entire orchestra play the same note will sometimes get you.

The London Symphony is a competent orchestra, although it didn’t sound as crisp as I expected it to.  We have seen Noseda a few times, mostly conducting operas.  He is older than I remember, but as energetic as ever.

The London Symphony Orchestra.  I missed the double basses on the right side of the stage.

It was certainly a great performance.  Incidentally, the tickets were on sale for $25 each (plus a processing fee) which was really a great bargain.  The same program was repeated in Lincoln Center, but we are glad we caught it in Newark.