New Jersey Symphony – Xian Zhang, conductor; Jennifer Koh, violin. May 11, 2017.

Prudential Hall at NJPAC.  Tier 2 (Seat C123, $38).

Program

Overture to Cosi fan tutte, K. 588 (1789-1790) by Mozart (1756-1791).

Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 (1902-1904, rev. 1905) by Sibelius (1865-1957).

Symphony No. 9 in C Major, “The Great,” D. 944 (1825-26) by Schubert (1797-1828).

We originally had tickets to this concert as part of the Red Bank series, but changed the date as Anne will be away, leaving Friday.

We ended up sitting in Tier 2.  Despite the house’s claim that the acoustics in Prudential Hall is great, I found it rather muted.  The artists seemed to be playing at a far greater distance than they appeared.

The Mozart overture worked out well enough.  It had the lightness and crispness that I like to hear in a Mozart composition, especially for a comedy like this opera.  While this was the earliest of the three works on the program tonight, this overture was the last one to find itself in the NJSO repertoire.  (Probably nothing more significant than an interesting fact.)

I was quite looking forward to the violin concerto, which is one of my favorites (but then I have many favorite violin concertos).  And this would be the first time I got to hear Jennifer Koh.

Perhaps it is the acoustics problem mentioned before, I found the performance not to be particularly exhilarating.  Her technique was superb, and there seemed to be no technical challenge that she didn’t overcome with ease, an example is how she breezed through the cadenza in the first movement.  Her intonation had to be as good as any violinist I have heard in a live performance, which is not easy for the rapid pitch and position changes this piece requires.  However, I often had to strain to pick out the solo violin from the orchestra, which given my familiarity with the piece shouldn’t be necessary.

And it’s not because she wasn’t into it.  A couple of bow hairs broke during the first movement, and she tried to yank them loose after the movement, nearly dropping the bow.  The other was how much her head shook during the performance; it was constant, and made me wonder how she managed to keep the violin pinned under her chin.  In searching the web about what violin she uses, I could only find reference to a Strad which had been on loan to her for 13 years was returned to the foundation, and how she misses it.  Her current violin sounded great, when I could hear it.

The Program Notes describes the orchestra as having a “rather subordinate” role.  I suspect many in the orchestra would disagree, as do I.  It played a near-equal, if not equal, part in the concerto as far as I can tell.  (By the way, this view is shared by the Wikipedia writeup on the concerto.) The Notes also fails to mention the wistfulness in the music of the composer’s not being able to excel as a violin virtuoso; that perhaps is a subjective judgment.

All misgivings aside, it was a beautiful performance of a great violin concerto.  I just wished I had a better seat, or that my ears were not still clogged up from my recent travels.

Xian Zhang looking on as Jennifer Koh takes her bow after performing Sibelius's Violin Concerto.

Schubert’s “Great” Symphony lives up to a name, lasting a good 50 or so minutes.  The four movements are (i) Andante – Allegro, ma non troppo; (ii) Andante con moto; (iii) Scherzo: Allegro vivace; and (iv) Finale: Allegro vivace.

I have heard this symphony on a couple of occasions, and am familiar with many of the melodies.  With Schubert one could usually expect interesting and subtle key changes.  All that we got today.

What I didn’t expect was to feel bored by the performance.  That may be too strong a sentiment, and I was in no danger of falling asleep.  But I kept wondering: how many times can he repeat this particular melody?  Many times.  Fortunately the theme usually changed when I began mumbling “this is too many repeats.”  Looking back over my notes for prior performances, I didn’t feel this way at all.  And I couldn’t really find fault with how the orchestra played, they were precise, the sound was good, and they responded to the conductor well.  I listened to parts of the symphony on YouTube afterwards, with the music score, and didn’t feel the same monotony I felt at the live concert.  What gives?

Zhang conducted with the usual gusto.  Worked quite well for the Sibelius and the Schubert.  I do wonder if that was necessary in the case of Mozart: I would think the conductor role here is to rein in the orchestra to ensure a light and crisp performance.

I toyed with the idea of going to tonight’s Red Bank performance, but decided against it as I needed to get ready to leave town tomorrow.