State Theater, New Brunswick. Front Orchestra (Seat J101, $28.)
Program
Also sprach
Zarathustra, Op. 30 (1896) by Strauss (1864-1949).
Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54 (1841-1845) by Schumann
(1810-1856).
Le Poeme de
l’extase (The Poem of Ecstasy), Op. 54 (1905-08) by Scriabin (1872-1915).
Speaking of bad luck, or series of unfortunate events if
one doesn’t believe in luck, we had tickets to all three of these “Winter
Festival” concerts, but managed only to make this one. Tickets to the first one (1/13) had to be
given away since we had to fly to California for a friends’ memorial service,
and last week the threat of a snow storm (1/19) was enough for NJ Governor to
declare a state of emergency – and we ended up having a warm evening with no
snow. NJSO, being a good NJ
organization, naturally cancelled the concert.
I am glad we could make this third one.
Not because of the significant financial loss (tickets were bought on
sale), but that the program is quite exciting, on paper anyway.
Let’s first dispense of the obvious. Trifonov’s
performance of Schumann alone was worth the price of admission; in my case many
times over. The Schumann concerto is one
of these brilliant warhorses that exhilarate from beginning to end. Even though it is divided into three movements,
it felt like a continuous piece, enjoyable on different levels. As the Program Notes puts it, Schumann
thought of this concerto as “something between symphony, concerto, and grand
sonata,” and ended up with something greater than any one of those three. One can sing along with the melodies
(quietly), enjoy the give and take between the soloist and the orchestra, admire
the virtuoso performance put on by the soloist, or – if so inclined – analyze
how the work is structured. The three
movements are (i) Allegro affecttuoso, (ii) Intermezzo: Andantino grazioso, and
(iii) Allegro vivace.
Danill Trifonov and Xian Zhang acknowledging the audience's applause.
Even though there were empty seats here or there,
tonight’s attendance was better than usual for a State Theater concert. I actually moved two rows forward after the
intermission. Trifonov responded to the audience applause by playing a “one-man
band” rendition of Katschei’s Infernal Dance, which was amazing.
Trifonov has morphed from a clean-cut young man when we
first saw him in 2012 to a more hippie-looking person today, but the focus and
joy he brings to his music haven’t seen much change, to this observer. To my surprise his bio indicates he studied
at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
One of those days I will try to learn more about
Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra. Of
the times I listened to it, I lose track after the famous Sunrise and just
couldn’t quite track where this tone poem is saying. Based on Nietsche’s work of the same name,
the music is supposed to explore Zoroaster the prophet’s “descending from a
mountain after many years of meditation in solitude in order to impart his
wisdom to mankind,” with Strauss selecting several of Nietsche’s discourse that
match his own musical thoughts. In this
case, without the benefit of a program guide, I just can’t figure out what this
“navel-gazing” (apologies to those who are offended) music is about.
From Wikipedia, the music is structured as follows:
1. Introduction, or Sunrise; 2. Of Those
in the Background World; 3. Of the Great Longing; 4. Of Joys and Passions; 5.
The Song of the Grave; 6. Of Science and
Learning; 7. The Convalescent; 8. The
Dance Song; 9. Song of the Night Wanderer.
One wonders if these reflect the thrust of Nietsche’s work. In any case, Strauss prefaced his score with
the words “Too long has music been dreaming; now let us awaken. We wandered by night, now let us walk by
day.”
The concertmaster Eric Wyrick had quite a few solo lines for the Strauss and Scriabin pieces. Here he was acknowledged after the Strauss.
The Program Notes has a couple of interesting takes on
the composer Scriabin, and tonight’s work The
Poem of Ecstasy. Scriabin is
described as “far less well known than his contemporaries … he is even more
misunderstood” and “… great impact with the few works for orchestra, of which The Poem of Ecstasy is the most import.”
His Wikipedia entry contains the following quote by his biographer: “No one was
more famous during their lifetime, and few were more quickly ignored after
death.” While I have heard his name
mentioned every now and then, there is only one entry in this blog about his
music. Frankly I can’t name anything he
wrote, so there …
After hearing this piece, my ignorance about this composer remains intact. Unfortunately, what sticks in my mind is how
Anne described the performance: there is a New York Philharmonic “loud,” which
is much better than the New Jersey Symphony “loud.” Indeed the music sounded chaotic when the orchestra
played loudly. Wyrick as concertmaster
had quite a few solos to tackle (both in this piece and in Strauss's piece,) and I had a hard time hearing him, even though
I was seated up front. I have heard much
better from him, so wonder if it’s the instrument or the acoustics.
I still recall this pre-concert talk about Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, given before a Mostly
Mozart concert, which has greatly increased my understanding and appreciation
of the piece. Berlioz wrote it in 1830,
so the musical idioms had changed a lot, no doubt; I still wonder would some
study of the piece help in my appreciation?
I root for NJSO, but I am worried. They have had some big name musicians on
their program, which is great; for instance, on the “Winter Festival” programs
are Emanuel Ax, Dawn Upshaw, and Daniil Trifonov. However, the low attendance
may mean difficulty rebooking them. On
top of that, there is also “bad luck,” like cancellation of concerts. The Jekyll-and-Hyde nature seems to have
improved to a more uniform standard of performance, but there is still a lot of
work to do.
And with this blog I am nearly all caught up. I did go to a Metropolitan Opera performance last night (Monday) though.
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