New York Philharmonic – Ivan Fischer, conductor; Nikolaj Znaider, violin. November 23, 2016.

David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.  Orchestra (Seat X104, $62.50).

Program

Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61 (1806) by Beethoven (1770-1827).

Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88 (1889) by Dvorak (1841-1904).

The two pieces on this program are popular pieces in the concert repertoire.  Ivan Fischer is well-known for founding the Budapest Festival Orchestra, and we had heard Znaider once before.

It is close to obligatory for me to say we heard this multiple times on a record with Oistrakh as the soloist in the 70s.  On reason was our limited collection of records; also, that it was a great recording helped.  I am sure my memory of the exact performance has faded, yet there is a way I like how this is played.

One characteristic I looked for is structure in this concerto which weaves beautifully together many scales and arpeggios.  Znaider violated this on many occasions, but in refreshing ways.  The sound of his violin was brilliant, for a long time I thought it was a Strad (it is a Guarnerius.)  I had heard Znaider perform once before, in 2007, and made the same remark about the instrument.  I was seated in the First Tier Rear Box section then, so the sound wasn’t an artifact of the location.

Znaider did well overall, handling the difficult piece with ease.  However, there were moments that he probably lost his concentration, resulting in slight intonation problems.  It is interesting to contrast how Znaider did compared to James Ehnes, who performed the same piece at the beginning of the year.  Ehnes would be more along the line of Oistrakh that I remember.

Znaider and Fischer after performance of Beethoven's Violin Concerto.

I have heard Dvorak’s Eighth several times before, and what jumps to mind is the results seemed to be hit or miss – sometimes enjoyable, sometimes not so much.  Today’s is definitely in the “hit” category, so much so that I wondered how anyone could botch it.  Incidentally, one of the prior enjoyable performances was by the Budapest Festival Orchestra, again conducted by Fischer.  And there were two occasions with mediocre results with the New York Philharmonic, so the conductor matters.

The orchestra seating was rearranged, the most obvious changes were the use of risers, and the basses were at the top.

We sat next to a person who also keeps a blog.  We had a good chat during intermission.  He told me he goes to about 300 concerts a year, which is quite remarkable.

We again bought tickets to this concert at a discount.  The auditorium was quite full, which was a good sign.

We stopped by Hoboken, parked our car in Ellie’s garage, and then took public transportation.  Dinner was at Pret-a-Manger near Penn Station.  We drove back home after collecting our car.