David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center. Orchestra 2 (Seat CC106, $74.50).
Program
Piano Concerto in F-sharp minor, Op. 20 (1896-97) by Scriabin
(1872-1915).
Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 (1888) by Tchaikovsky
(1840-93).
On paper this should be a great concert. Daniil Trifonov on the piano, followed by one
of Tchaikovsky’s popular symphonies, what is there not to like. Nothing, except that the justifiable high
expectations (say an A+ concert) was not quite met (A- perhaps in my grading).
While the name Scriabin certainly was familiar, a search
of this blog returned two pieces of his I have heard over the last 15 or so years,
both written in the early 1900s. It
turns out they belong to his later stage atonal period. Today’s concerto was his first “real”
orchestral work (he had attempted but didn’t finish a Fantasia for Piano),
where “Scriabin keeps the piano almost constantly active, but not always in the
spotlight …” (per Program Notes).
The relatively short (27 minutes) concerto has as its
movements Allegro, Andante and Allegro moderato. Unfortunately, my appreciation of the piece was
limited to what I gleaned from the Notes: Chopinesque in its arching phrases …,
piano and orchestra are far more tightly interlaced …, the piano almost
constantly active, but not always in the spotlight. Those comments do not help in my
understanding of what the piece was about other than a challenging exercise for
the musicians. We had enjoyed good acoustics
at our seats in David Geffen Hall recently, so I was surprised how weak the
piano sounded, especially given the reduced size orchestra that was used (there
were quite a few brasses).
Scriabin was the number two piano student at the Moscow
Conservatory, having the misfortune of being a contemporary of Rachmaninoff; nonetheless
not bad considering his small stature limited his span to an octave. When Scriabin died, Rachmaninoff toured
Russian in a series of all-Scriabin recitals which helped secure Scriabin’s
reputation as a composer. His music was
banned from the Philharmonic in the early 1900s because of his affair with
Tatiana de Scholzer, but the conductor of the orchestra was a good friend of
the real Mrs. Scriabin.
Trifonov performed a short encore piece.
Trifonov and van Zweden after the Scriabin concerto.
The definitive performance of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth
Symphony was the one led by Blomstedt.
It was back in 2012, yet I still remember it. Not the specifics, but that Blomstedt took
the audience on a wild ride over the course of the composition. Tonight’s performance was more controlled,
and was enjoyable enough. However, I
wasn’t taken on an emotional ride, and the only exciting part was how the coda
sounded. The audience enjoyed it very
much, if the applause was any indication.
We took the train in, and the concert ended early enough
for us to catch the 9:38 pm train back, which is always a nice bonus.
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