Prudential Hall
at NJPAC. Grand Tier (Seat E7, $20).
Program
Adagio from
Piano Trio No. 40 in F-sharp Minor, Hob. XV:26 (1794 or 1795) by Haydn
(1732-1809).
Triple Concerto
in C Major, Op. 56 (1804) by Beethoven (1770-1827).
Symphony No. 102
in B-flat Major, Hob. I: 102 (1794) by Haydn.
Suite from Der
Rosenkavalier, Op. 59 (1910) by Strauss (1864-1949).
I learned
something new! I found out “Hob” refers
to the cataloging of Haydn’s compositions by Anthony van Hoboken who designed
each genre by a roman numeral. Thus I
refers to the 106 symphonies (numbered to 104), and XV Trios for Piano, Violin
or Flute and Cello.
The other
interesting fact is the theme from the adagio movement of the Trio was reused
by Haydn in Symphony No. 102. The
Program Notes describes the trio as a piece that Haydn would play with his
mistress (I wonder who played the cello), and it was meant to be a surprise for
her when the Symphony was first performed, as the Trio had not been published
yet.
I bought the
tickets on sale, and figured the Grand Tier should provide good acoustics. The view of the stage was great, but the
acoustics was poor, probably because the seats were underneath Tier 1. The piano came through reasonably okay, but
the two strings sounded very weak.
It got a bit
better with the Triple Concerto, but I still had to strain to hear the cello
and the violin.
I am reasonably
familiar with this work of Beethoven, and heard it as Glenn Dicterow’s farewell
concert when he retired as New York Phil’s concertmaster. I have listened to it on my iPod quite a few
times – Oistrakh, Richter & Rostropovich were the performers, with Karajan
and the Berlin Philharmonic. The piece
sounded simple for Beethoven. Before the
concert I read through the music while listening to the YouTube performance by
Perlman, Ma, and Barenboim, who also did the conducting. It was a lot more complicated than I thought,
requiring great coordination. With that
in mind, I appreciated tonight’s performance.
While things were not perfect, especially with intonation (both
strings), that they managed to put it together nicely was a great
accomplishment. Also, both string
players had music in front of them, but Muzijevic did it without music.
After
intermission we moved up three rows to seats that were in the open. And the sound was much better. For the record, I am not complaining about
the seats we got for $20 each.
Symphony No. 102
is one of Haydn’s London symphonies, and consists of four movements: Largo –
Vivace; Adagio; Menuet: Allegro; and Presto.
My appreciation of Haydn is somewhat like that of Mozart: I can’t really
tell a great performance from a good one.
Tonight’s was at least good, of that I’m sure. While the second movement bore some
resemblance to the Adagio from the earlier Piano Trio, I couldn’t really say they
were the same.
It is not
entirely clear to me why a program billed as “Zhang conducts Beethoven &
Haydn” would include a piece by Strauss, but that was how the program
concluded.
We have seen Der
Rosenkavalier once at the Met, and has heard several performance sof the Suite,
with Rodzinski as the likely arranger. The
Program Notes contains a good description of the parts that make up the
22-minute piece.
This concert was
preceded by a reception and followed by a dinner, serving as a welcoming party
for NJSO’s new conductor. There were
quite a few people at the reception (which cost a couple of hundred dollars)
and many tables were set up for the dinner.
Reception at the foyer before the concert began.
I must say I don’t
understand the programming for tonight.
Not so much how it hangs together musically (and it does to a great
extent), but why a somewhat tepid program for such a public event. While the pieces are enjoyable, I am sure the
overall concert will be forgotten in most people’s minds. Again, I hope things will improve.
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