David Geffen
Hall. Orchestra (Seat M106, $58.)
Program
Piano Concerto
No. 17 in G major, K. 453 (1784) by Mozart (1756-91).
Variations on a
Rococo Theme, for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 33 (1876-77) by Tchaikovsky
(1840-93).
Symphony No. 98
in B-flat major, Ho. I:98 (1792) by
Haydn (1732-1809).
This was a
delightful concert. The programmed
pieces made sure of that, with easy-listening Mozart concerto and Haydn
Symphony.
To me most of
Mozart’s music are delightful, and most have been commented on extensively
throughout the years. Every now and then
I would learn and remember something interesting, such as how he meshed four or
five themes together in the Jupiter Symphony. For this program the commentator in a sidebar “Listen
for … the Starling’s Song” talks about Mozart’s pet starling which was taught to
whistle the tune used in the last movement.
I didn’t know people kept starlings as pets, and that they could be
taught particular tunes. The main body
of the commentary was more on the history of the symphony than on the music. Which is fine with me. The other aspect was that the cadenzas played
today are “unquestionably by the composer.”
Kahane was both
the conductor and soloist. For this
orchestra probably no conducting was necessary; and, as I have said before,
this arrangement loses the true give-and-take between the piano and
orchestra. For a live performance the
arrangement is such that the audience sees only the back of the pianist. Nonetheless, it was a good (can’t tell good
from excellent, remember?) and delightful performance. The movements are allegro, andante, and
allegretto – Finale: Presto.
Curtain call after performance of Mozart's Concerto.
We heard the
Rococo Variations in October last year at a New Jersey Symphony concert. Today’s was no less delightful a performance. Seated close to the stage, it was easier to
appreciate the technical difficulties presented by the piece. Weilerstein made this crowd-pleasing piece
look easy. I do hope she has a heavy
coat, just looking at her dress made me feel cold.
Haydn’s 98th
Symphony was the last of his first group of London Symphonies. Many of the 12 London Symphonies have nicknames:
Surprise, Military, Clock, Drumroll (per Playbill), I would agree with the
commentator that this one takes a back seat to none. Indeed its freshness of this symphony made it
an enjoyable experience. The one
interesting fact alluded in the Playbill was Haydn’s musical signature, performed
at the fortepiano. Kahane was again the
solist/pianist. The Pianoforte didn’t get a lot of airtime, mostly providing a
continuo role. The signature towards the
end, however, was unmistakable. Haydn
himself played the 11-measure passage at its premiere. The four movements of the Symphony are Adagio
– Allegro; Adagio cantabile; Minuetto – Trio; and Finale: Presto.
The New YorkTimes review is mixed: praising the performances, panning (a bit) the
programming. He also mentioned Kahane did less continuo for the Haydn than he
would expect (or would have liked.) Weilerstein was wearing the same dress on
Thursday; some performers I know change during the same concert! Evidently she first performed this at age 13
with the Cleveland Orchestra. The
article didn’t talk about attendance at an evening where traffic had to be very
bad. For today’s 11 am concert, the hall
was quite full.
Yesterday (Jan
4) saw the area hit with between 8” to a foot of snow, so our initial thoughts
were to either skip this concert or take public transportation. We decided to drive in and park in one of the
nearby garages. Turns out okay as
traffic was very light as the cold spell we have (since December 26 the temperature
has not reached freezing, and may break tomorrow Monday Jan 8) probably kept a
lot of people off the roads. We ate
something simple at Panera Bread before heading home.
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