David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center. Orchestra 1 (Seat K109, $61.50).
Program
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 19 (1788-1801)
by Beethoven (1770-1827).
Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27 (1906-08) by
Rachmaninoff (1873-1943).
I am sure I have heard both pieces live before, many
times. The surprise was I was familiar
with only one of the three movements in the Beethoven, and one of the four in
the Rachmaninoff.
The adjective “Mozartian” is often associated with early
Beethoven works, and this concerto, composed when he was around 20, falls
comfortable in that description. Not
that one would mistake it for Mozart, but the structure and the use of repeated
notes clearly reminded one of Mozart’s compositions. The brilliant sounds in Beethoven’s music
perhaps reflected the availability of more modern instruments, and the
contrasts and the techniques asked of the performer are characteristics of
Beethoven. A pianist can analyze the similarities and the differences, I can
make only qualitative assessments.
It was a delightful opening to this morning concert
(started at 11 am.) Bronfman in the past
played mostly virtuoso pieces (say by Rachmaninoff), although I had heard him
play this concerto before, with Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic, as
part of a Beethoven concerto cycle. His
approach seemed fresh and exciting, and worked well with van Zweden on the
podium. Our seats in the center of the
hall afforded us a great view of his face, but not his hands. One comment I have was both he, and the
orchestra, for that matter, looked a bit too serious. The three movements are Allegro con brio,
Adagio, and Rondo: Molto allegro.
Bronfman after the Beethoven concerto.
The Rachmaninoff symphony is over an hour long. One of the first reviewers remarked that “this
may be slightly overlong for the general audience, but how fresh, how beautiful
it is!” I must admit I did look at my watch a couple of times, but also that it
didn’t feel long at all. Van Zweden did
seem to take the music at a rather quick pace, and I thought the orchestra
sounded a bit muddled at times.
Nonetheless, the music was exciting, and sometimes quite loud. As with Rachmaninoff’s piano concertos, the
listener didn’t need to do a lot of “work,” they only needed to go along for
the ride.
The four movements of the symphony are (i) Largo - Allegro moderato; (ii) Allegro molto - Meno mosso - Tempo I; (iii) Adagio; and (iv) Allegro vivace - Adagio - Tempo precedente.
van Zweden was applauded enthusiastically at the conclusion of the Rachmaninoff symphony. He was quite good at acknowledging the players and sections.
To expand on the remark I made at the beginning of this
writeup, I am familiar with the Rondo in Beethoven, and the Adagio in
Rachmaninoff. The Rondo is fun (that’s
why I thought the musicians could smile a little,) and the Adagio contains one
of the sadder and beautiful melodies.
There was a recent review article in the New York Times
that talked about the new, louder sound of the Philharmonic, so I tried to make
my own assessment. Clearly the Beethoven
didn’t suffer from that “problem” as a reduced size orchestra was used. Some passages in the Rachmaninoff were quite
loud, to being overwhelming. I don’t see
anything wrong with that; isn’t music supposed to overwhelm at times? And I am not sure that’s a recent phenomenon.
We decided to drive up for this morning program. Parking was at one of these ICON places, and
the new APP is such that there was some confusion on when the car can be
released. (Every time the APP is refreshed, the clock resets.) It took me a while to convince the attendant
that I wasn’t the cause of the problem.
In any case, we got home in good time, after grabbing some food in the
Cheesequake service area.
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