New Jersey Symphony. Xian Zhang, conductor; Daniil Trifonov, piano. November 5, 2021.

NJPAC, Prudential Hall, Newark, NJ.  (Grand Tier, Seat B104, $81).

Program
Stardust by Jessie Montgomery.
"The Moldau," "Sarka," and "Blanik" from Ma Vlast by Smetana.
Piano Concerto No. 2 by Beethoven.

Two in-person concerts in two days, quite an accomplishment.  The program was going to be repeated in Count Basie, quite a bit closer to our house, and nearby free-parking, but our grandchildren were planning to stay with us over the weekend.  We opted instead for NJPAC.  Only worrisome thing was traffic, which turned out to be okay.  And the $20 parking charge.

This was taken about 8 minutes before 8 pm.  The main auditorium was quite empty.

This is at the end of the first half of the program.  More people seemed to be seated.

Trifonov and Zhang, both masked, at the end of the Beethoven Concerto.

Trifonov was going to be playing a Brahms Piano Concerto (No. 1, if I recall).  He hurt his elbow, so went instead for Beethoven's second.

Beethoven's second piano concerto actually was the first one he composed, and to my ears it sounds like a fierier Mozart concerto.  Nonetheless, it is still quite physically demanding, so I hope it didn't aggravate Trifonov's hurt elbow.

For encore he played a Bach piece: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring.  A surprise.  After we got home, Anne looked up YouTube and found a recording of him playing the piece.  He evidently is on a quest to explore the many dimensions of Bach.

We had heard an enjoyable performance of the Moldau by NJSO a while back, and for tonight two more selections from Ma Vlast were added, extending the performance to about 36 minutes (per Program Notes).  There is good reason why the Moldau is the most popular of the lot.

The evening started with a very short piece by Jessie Montgomery.  Her music was recently featured in a Princeton Symphony concert also.  I also listened recently to a Podcast with her as the guest.  So she has a lot of visibility nowadays.  I am typing this two weeks after the concert, and have no recollection - beyond my mental note that it was quite "listenable" - of the piece.

I find to my surprise that I am not as harsh in my review as I could be, probably because I somewhat relish being able to enjoy a concert in a large hall - albeit less than half full.  On the other hand, I am not rushing to find more events to attend.