New York Philharmonic. Jaap van Zweden, conductor; Janine Jansen, violin. February 13, 2020.

David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.  Orchestra (Seat HH103, $43).

Program

Concerto in D major for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 77 (1878-79) by Brahms (1833-97).

Stride (2019) by Leon (b. 1943).

Der Rosenkavalier Suite (1909-10/1944) by Strauss (1864-1949).

On the front of the Playbill is the line “Project 19: 19 commissions to celebrate the centennial of the 19^th Amendment.”  That amendment being women’s right to vote, and it happened only 100 years ago.  Over the course of two years these commissioned work will be premiered at the Philharmonic.

For tonight it was the work by Tania Leon, who came to the US as a refugee from Cuba in 1967.  Van Zweden had a short interview with her about this work.  The work was inspired by Susan B. Anthony, whom Leon learned a lot about as she researched her life for this work.  Paraphrasing Leon’s words, Anthony would not take “no” for an answer, and kept pushing and moving forward; hence the title for the piece.  She also mentioned that women of color couldn’t vote until 1965, and her piece also had something to say about that.

Leon also came out after the orchestra performed "Stride."  Tonight was the world premiere of her work.

Typing this blog entry a couple of days later, I have no real recollection of how the piece sounded, and if it appealed to me at all.  I do remember remarking to myself that nothing close to “stride” would come to mind if I listened to this without the benefit of the Playbill, and that it was still a mystery why the music represented stride with the benefit.  I don’t think it’s unfair to characterize it as random movement; perhaps there was an underlying theme of progress, if there was, I didn’t get it.  The interesting aspect about the piece is the instruments used, including the djembe (tuned drum originally from West Africa), and the sizzle cymbal; the first time I heard about these instruments.

The evening started with Brahms’s violin concerto.  Jansen is a familiar name to NY Philharmonic audiences, but this was the first time I heard her perform.  She was an exciting performer, very bold in her approach; she had to yank the broken hairs off her bow on multiple occasions.  Nonetheless, tonight’s performance sounded more like a practice session, there was not a great deal of excitement in how she approached it.  And I was surprised at the instances of intonation problems; the misses weren’t by much, but enough to be noticeable.

She performed a short piece as an encore.

 Janine Jansen after performing Brahms's violin concerto.

My last two encounters with this concerto was with Jing Wang, HK Phil’s concertmaster (van Zweden conducting), and Gil Shaham (NJ Symphony, Xian Zhang conducting).  I called Shaham’s performance sound but business-like, and really enjoyed how Wang did it.  I am not sure tonight’s rose to the level of either soloist.  For those keeping track, we are talking about van Zweden conducting the HK Phil, and Zhang the NJSO, here.  One would have bet tonight’s should have “won,” hands down.

Having seen the opera and listened to the suite multiple times, I have some familiarity with both the story and the music of Der Rosenklavalier.  It is romance with an element of grotesqueness (the Baron, who eventually “got the memo.”)  But overall I expected elegance in the music.  I was disappointed that most of the music came across as crude, that would include the “silver rose” theme of descending notes, and the waltzes.  A new take on the music, but not necessarily an improved one.  The other issue I noticed was how the different orchestra sections seemed to be working independently of one another, to the point of incoherence.

Interesting fact: the suite was by an identified arranger, but was published with Strauss's approval.

A large orchestra was used for both the Leon and Strauss pieces.

It is fair for the reader to conclude that I didn’t think this was one of the Philharmonic’s better concerts.  A large orchestra (complete with many extras) was used for both the Leon and the Strauss piece.

Anne had to teach a class so we gave up on her ticket.  For the second half I could move one seat over and didn’t have to look over the heads of the people sitting in front of me.  I took the train in, the 6 pm train arrived a bit late, so I barely made it to the beginning of the concert.