David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center. Orchestra (Seat S112, $52.50).
Pre-Concert Recital – programmed announced from
the stage
Selected Dances by Schubert (D.365, D.179, D.146, D.145,
D.734. D790).
Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano.
Program
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major (1804-06) by Beethoven
(1770-1827).
Symphony No. 9 in C major (“Great”) (c. 1825-28) by
Schubert (1797-1828).
It would be difficult to associate either of the two
pieces on tonight’s program with Mozart, which may or may not be
disappointing. However, both pieces
should be interesting, at least on paper.
No doubt the Beethoven piece was inspiring, especially as
performed tonight by Aimard. I had seen
him on a couple of occasions and liked his playing. At the risk of sounding a bit hyperbolic,
tonight Aimard made the concerto sound as “heroic” as the Emperor
concerto. The notes were clear, the
lines superb; an overall coherent and imaginative telling of a story. Undoubtedly one of the best performances of
this work.
Aimard also did the pre-concert recital. If I understood him correctly, he talked
about this contrast between the romanticism of Beethoven and the lyricism of
Schubert, and that people usually fall into one camp or another. (Not I, since I didn’t even realize there
were camps to fall into.) Tonight’s
program would be a nice contrast between the two composers. For the recital he chose 20 or so of Schubert’s
dances to illustrate Schubert’s lyricism; and, to allay the audience’s fear it
would be interminably long, he reassured us the pieces averaged a minute
each. It was a delightful collection
that are within reach of many pianists.
Aimard had this interesting gesture of seeming to be chewing on
something as he played.
Noseda holding hands of Frautschi and Aimard after the Beethoven concerto.
The moniker for Schubert’s Ninth Symphony was “Great” to
distinguish it from the “Little” Symphony (No. 6, also in C major). Nowadays many take it to reference the
majesty of the symphony. At 58 minutes
(per Program Notes), and the way the MMFO played it, I would call it
“Long.” It was just a disappointment,
and certainly didn’t live up to the lyricism that Aimard referred to during his
Pre-Concert chat.
Noseda, who was quite animated in his conducting, managed
to draw out a lot of contrast from the orchestra. However, the orchestra sounded – and often
looked – disorganized, and muddled through many of the fast passages. The one surprise for me was how fast the
second movement was: I thought it was a scherzo initially. The four movements are: (i) Andante – Allegro
ma non troppo – Piu moto; (ii) Andante con moto; (iii) Scherzo: Allegro vivace
– Trio; and (iv) Finale: Allegro vivace.
More observation on personnel changes. Frautschi was again the concertmaster. We saw the one listed in the program (Ruggero
Allifranchini) sitting in the last seat of the first violins, and concluded he
didn’t lead the orchestra during the first two concerts. Also, the regular second flutist was replaced
by a gentleman. While the latter change
can be attributed to scheduling reasons, I do wonder why Allifranchini moved
from first to last. He seemed cheerful
enough in his new position, though.
Noseda acknowledging different sections of the orchestra after the Schubert Symphony. One can see the listed concertmaster seated in the first violin section.
There was this gentleman who was enthusiastically
applauding Aimard after the Beethoven concert, and then we discovered it was
Kam L from church. We chatted a bit
during intermission.
Today was the last day of VBS, our children stayed with
us during the week to attend. We took
them back to Hoboken. Getting to Lincoln
Center (by bus and subway) was easy enough.
On our way back we got something to eat in Hoboken before driving our
car back to South Amboy.
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