New Jersey Symphony. Jose Luis Dominguez, conductor; Eric Wyrick, violin; Juan Pablo Jofre, bandoneon. February 26, 2022.

Count Basie Theater, Red Bank, NJ.  (Balcony, Seat E113, $50.)

Program

Louise Farrenc Overture No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 23.

Juan Pablo Jofre Double Concerto for Violin and Bandoneon, No. 1

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74, "Pathetique"

Titling this concert "Tchaikovsky's Pathetique" may be a bit misleading as the first half consists of two works that are seldom heard in concerts.  Farrenc was a Frenchwoman who died in 1875, and Jofre is an Argentina native who lives in New York.

Dominguez leads the NJ Symphony Youth Orchestra.  We saw him on a couple occasions conducting the NJSO in outdoor concerts in Red Bank.

Ferrenc's piece was quite short, at less than ten minutes.  After listening to the overture for a while, I thought I would mistake it with one of Rossini's, given how light-hearted it sounded.  My original thinking was I was off as Rossini certainly was one of these "old" opera composers.  Turns out Rossini died in 1868, so it is safe to assume they were contemporaries.  Of course I do not know if they had met one another or had exerted a mutual influence.  Also, a musicologist may be able to tell how French and Italian musical styles were different at that time.

Per the Program Notes, Jofre is an award-winning bandoneon player and composer.  The piece heard tonight "fuses Western classical tradition with his Argentinian nuevo tango heritage.  He cites Bach, Bartok, Stravinsky and Piazzolla as major compositional influences ... Jofre challenges the conventional approach to violin, writing for it in a percussive manner (and occasionally using the violin itself as a percussion instrument)."  Them fighting words.  For sure this was the first written for a violin and bandoneon, but beyond that I am not so sure.  Not knowing much about the bandoneon, I can't tell the level of virtuosity that was involved - although a lot seemed to be in support of the violin solo.  On the other hand, the violin part seemed extremely challenging, beginning with a rather rapid succession of double stops.  I usually have mixed feelings about Wyrick's solo lines, but today he was most impressive, despite having some problems with harmonics.  The violin sounded great - better than the sound of Koh's violin a few days ago.

Wyrck, Dominguez, and Jofre.  One sees string players, a pianist, and a timpanist in this photo.  The Program also lists a guiro, a triangle, and a bass drum.

The Bandoneon.  Most people would think it's an accordion.

The music was reasonably captivating and interesting.  However, after 10 minutes or so I thought I had heard enough.  The entire piece was about 20 minutes.

Much has been said about how Tchaikovsky died eight days after the premiere of his last work, Symphony No. 6.  Today's Program Notes has a new take (for me) on why he (perhaps) drank poison.  It had to do with his alleged relationship with a young boy, and Tchaikovsky was asked to commit suicide to not embarrass the School of Jurisprudence that the composer attended some thirty years prior.

The Symphony is a challenge to any orchestra, and I am surprised that NJSO decided to take it on.  My overall reaction: technically things seemed fine, but the overall performance lacked the "passion" or "pathos" one expected.  Which all-in-all isn't a bad outcome.

After the Pathetique.

And, I am glad to say, it's no longer a "Jekyll and Hyde" ensemble, a term I used to describe NJSO when Lacombe was the conductor.  The orchestra did well with Lacombe leading, but would collapse under guest conductors.  Of course, Dominguez is a regular.

The concert was actually quite well attended, even though there were still quite a few empty seats in the balcony.  As with the State Theater, there were a lot of renovations done during the pandemic hiatus.  The auditorium still had the same feel as before things however were a lot "cleaner."

There is the addition of a proper lobby in the Balcony.

The auditorium has the same feel it did in the past.  The seats were reupholstered.

Half-time waits at bathrooms are considerably shortened with additional facilities.

Jennifer Koh, violin; Thomas Sauer, piano. February 18, 2022.

Matthews Theatre, McCarter Theatre Centre, Princeton, NJ.  (Balcony B, BB5, $33).

Program

Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 1 in D major, Op. 12, No. 1.

Bridgetower Fantasy by Vijay Iyer (b. 1971).

Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 47, "Kreutzer."

Beethoven's violin sonatas are standard pieces violin students learn.  They range in degrees of difficulty, with No. 1 being on the easy side, and No. 9 a rather difficult one to master.  I enjoyed both pieces.  I forget if the music contains actual repeat markings, but Koh and Sauer seemed to do all the repeats, which make for rather long performances.  The concert started a few minutes late, but didn't end until 9:45 pm, with one intermission.

A notable mistake violin students were taught to avoid was these screeching sounds from not doing your bowing properly.  Another would be playing unintentionally close to the bridge.  Both seem to be staple techniques in the piece by Iyer.  To make those sounds consistently would require a lot of practice - of course I do not know if the sounds were made consistently, or did the violinist do the best she could, and whatever came out, came out.

Per the Program Notes, the Bridgetower Fantasy was "a meditation on the enigmatic African European violinist George Bridgetower, who gave the first performance of the "Kruetzer" with the composer at the piano."  The Program Notes continues to describe the Fantasy, starting with the "lonely violin harmonics" to "a characteristic hesitate-and-rush coda that seems to outdo the master at his own game."  Quite a statement there, as the "master" in this case is THE master Beethoven.  Unfortunately I didn't hear most of what the Notes was describing.  The role Bridgetower played in the Kreutzer Sonata is interesting, though.

Jennifer Koh dyed her hair purple, with nail polish to match.  With a large black mask on, she was not recognizable.  She did the pieces with enthusiasm, and many hairs on the bow broke as a result.  She supposedly performs on a Strad, but the sound was not as smooth and clear as I expected.

Sauer matched Koh musically, I feel sorry for these "accompanists" who faced equal challenges but gets secondary billing in the program.

There were paper copies of the "Program Notes" available, and contains rather insightful observations by David Wright.  But it also contains some "gibberish" with out-of-order words such as "violin leading Rodolphe violinist Kreutzer and and Louis pianist, Adam, who respectively, Beethoven in Paris."  In any case, many violinist will disagree with his view that this sonata "as if to say goodbye forever to the old 'accompanied sonata'."

The tickets were bought at a 50% off sale during Thanksgiving.  Both the main auditorium and the balcony had lots of empty seats.  A bit discouraging.

Taken a few minutes before the concert began.  Not too many additonal people showed up afterwards.

Joshua Bell and Larisa Martinez with the New Jersey Symphony. Broadcast February 9, 2022.

Conductor - Zhang Xian.

Joshua Bell, violin; Larisa Martinez, soprano.

Program

Mendelssohn/arr. Kohn & Stephenson "Ah, ritorna, eta dell'oro" from Infelice

Mozart "Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio!," K. 418

Wieniawski Violin Concerto No. 2

Broadcast on NJ PBS online.

The program was performed at NJPAC, to an empty auditorium, with orchestra members socially distanced.  Strings one to a stand.  It premiered at 7:30 pm on October 20, 2021, per the orchestra's website.

Bell and Martinez are married (in 2019, per Wikipedia).

Loved the Wieniawski violin concerto.

Playing to an empty auditorium, Bell faced the orchestra most of the time.

Socially distanced orchestra seating.

ALL-ARTS Channel Broadcast - Metropolitan Opera's Walkure. February 7, 2022.

Original performance date: 2019.

Conductor - Philippe Jordan; Siegmund - Stuart Skelton, Sieglinde - Eva-Maria Westbroek, Hunding - Gunther Groissbock, Wotan - Greer Grimsley, Brunnhilde - Christine Goerke, Fricka - Jamie Barton.

Speaking of not sitting through a PBS documentary on Itzhak Perlman, what started as "let's see what it is like" turned into a full 4-hour viewing of this broadcast.  I did lose my focus, especially during some of the more "boring" monologues and dialogues.

We saw the Met 2019 Ring Cycle and the cast for the performance we saw was mostly the same as the one for this show.  One notable exception was Michael Volle sang the role of Wotan in the performance we attended.  Interesting, we saw Grimsley as Wotan in the very first Ring Cycle we attended, in 2009 in Seattle.  I didn't write much about the performances then, but distinctly remember Grimsley as not having a strong voice.  I had seen Grimsley a few times in the ensuing years, and have given him a mixed review.  Either the recording engineers did a great job (no doubt they did), or Grimsley improved a lot during the decade.

The Walkure had to slide down these planks.  One could see the relief in their eyes when they landed on the platform below.

Brunnhilde and Wotan.

It is quite clear to me that a stunt double was used in this fire scene.

Walkure at curtain call.  In the center were Grimsley, Goerke, and Westbroek.

An Evening with Itzhak Perlman. February 5, 2022.

State Theatre, New Brunswick, NJ.  Balcony (Seat K101, $58).

Program

Announced from stage.

Pianist: Rohan di Silva.

First, this was a packed auditorium.  And ticket prices were (relatively) high.  We paid more for a worse seat compared to the Royal Philharmonic concert.

As described in the notes on the event, Perlman went over his journey as a child in Tel Aviv to more recent times.  He showed many photographs and videos.  I did take some notes which I will retype below (musical numbers prefaced with an *).

He hated the word "virtual," although he recognized that as a life-saver for many people.

His prior encounter with a pandemic (polio) caused his physical problems.  Joked that since he couldn't be a tennis star, might as well practice the violin.

The first apartment his parents rented was 5 by 8 (feet?).

*The first piece he played tonight was Kreisler's Tempo di menuetto.

First teacher was found by his parents at the beach, not very good.

Switched teacher (a woman).

*Schumann's Serenade.  (That's what I wrote down, and it wasn't the famous one by Schubert).

*Concerto by Oskar Rieding.  I had never heard of this composer before, evidently he wrote many violin concertos for the beginning student.  In searching for this piece, I found a record of Perlman titled "Concertos from my Childhood" (EMI Classics).

*Allegro by Joseph Hector Fiocco.

How he was picked by Ed Sullivan and began his journey to the United States.

Studied under Ivan Galamian (whom I know as editor of many violin pieces) and his assistant Dorothy DeLay.  Galamian ran a summer music school called Meadowmount.

While studying in New York, he earned money by performing at many Jewish fundraisers.

Carnegie debut with a piece by Wieniawski.

Mentioned Ravel's Tzigane.

Won a violin competition (Leventritt).

Talked about recording Schubert's Trout Quintet in London in 1969.  With Barenboim, Zuckerman, du Pre and Mehta.  I watched the documentary (available on YouTube) recently.

Made the cover of Newsweek.

Part of the "I Hate Steps" campaign.

Performance with Ray Charles.

Appeared on Sesame Street many times.

Sara Lee commercial.

He sang the jailor role in Tosca, with Pavarotti as Cavaradossi and Mehta conducting.

Talked about the Perlman Music Program which he attributed to his wife Tobi (who came backstage after a concert at Meadowmount and said she would marry him).  It's going strong after 26/27 years.

Started to conduct.

*Schindler's List.  He relayed how John Williams approached him about the piece.

I am not sure what the expectations of the attendees were.  The title of the event, "an evening with," should have led one to think this was going to be Perlman reminiscing about his life.  I could sense there were quite a few who were somewhat disappointed at the lack of brilliant violin playing during the 90-minute session.

His story is certainly an inspiring one.  Of course he has a talent that very few people are blessed with.  I do wonder if he hasn't lost a step or two on the virtuoso front, if the recent concerts I attended were any indication.

The session went by very quickly, and I enjoyed it.  What is it about a live session that makes it so much more interesting?  I can definitely see this as something one would broadcast on PBS, and I will probably give it a miss.

Perlman ended the concert by saying "now you clap," his way of saying there will not be an encore.

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Vasily Petrenko, conductor; Kian Soltani, cello. January 30, 2022.

State Theatre, New Brunswick, NJ.  Balcony (Seat C102, $43).

Program

Four Sea Interludes from 'Peter Grimes,' Op. 33a (1945) by Britten (1913-1976).

Cello Concerto No 1 in E-flat major, Op. 107 (1959) by Shostakovich (1906-1975).

Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 (1943) by Rachmaninov (1873-1943).

Yesterday (1/31) a "Live from Carnegie Hall" notice popped up on the WQXR APP inviting listeners to tune into a performance by the RPO.  As their website lists 2/3 as their next concert, in the UK, I was evidently catching the tail end of RPO's USA tour.

While all three pieces on the program were written in the mid-1900s, they are all rather popular and "easy listening."

The one piece I had heard the least - once, per this blog - I actually remembered quite well.  It was the first time I heard Alisa Weilerstein, back in 2011.  The 4-note theme, barely singable as a tune, has stuck in my mind ever since.  Today's was a great performance, but not as impactful as what I remember of the one 11 years ago.  The cello was a bit weak when played against the full orchestra.  Per his website, he is about 30 years old, and plays on a Stradivarius.

In addition to the 4-note theme, the other noteworthy aspect of the piece is the third movement, labelled "Cadenza."  Indeed it was a cello-only movement, and sounded and looked very difficult.

The Program Notes (such as it is) discussed at some length the 4-note theme, and labeled it as D-E flat-C-B.  The actual score has the notes as G-F flat-C flat-B flat.  Tried as I did, I couldn't quite get the two to sound the same.  One of those days I will find an explanation.  (The Wikipedia article on the concerto says its continually distorted and re-shaped; my question is if the tune is already unrecognizable at the very beginning, is it still that tune?)

That the piece sounded "familiar" when I listened to it for the second time was simply amazing.  That speaks to either the genius of Shostakovich, or Weilerstein, or both.

Kian Soltani after performing the Shostakovich cello concerto.  Per his website, he plays on a Stradivarius, but the varnish on this cello is light compared to most Stradivarii I have seen.

Alas, the same cannot be said about the other two pieces on the program, both of which I had heard on multiple prior occasions.

I did wish I had read up a little on Peter Grimes.  I finally saw a taped version of the performance during the lockdown, and understood the story.  I also recall parts of the Program Notes I read on prior performances - about these church bells, for instance.  However, I had generally little idea of what was going on.

That it was useful to read up on a piece beforehand was reinforced with Rachmaninov.  The piece was written a few years before the composer's death, and was actually his last completed work.  People who know Rachmaninov's music well can probably recognize it as his work right away.  To me it doesn't evoke the same romanticism.  Of course I could read the composer into the music since I did read the Program.  It wasn't until Dies Irae was introduced that I could say "of course it is."  Perusal of prior blog entries before this had one conductor describe each of the dances as introducing a new character.  I wish I had known that beforehand.

The cellist played an encore, a piece from Shostakovich's film score for "The Gadfly."  It was arranged for the solo cello and the orchestra's cello section.  The orchestra also played an encore: a familiar piece whose title I cannot recall.  (The encore was listed as "Dance of the Tumblers" by Tchaikovsky for their 1/31 Carnegie Hall concert.)  The piece was fast and "rowdy," but showcased how precise the musicians were.

After performance of Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances.  This is a rather large orchestra, with over 50 string players, and another 30 of other instruments.  If the conductor was bothered by the low attendance, he didn't show it at all.

Despite my being pretty certain I have heard the RPO before, this evidently was my first encounter with them.  They have been around 75 years and does 200 (!) concerts a year.  Indeed they are hitting multiple cities in the UK after their Carnegie Hall performance.

We bought two tickets for the concert, Anne couldn't go because the grandkids were with us.  Finding parking off street was not difficult, even though the snowstorm on Saturday blocked off many parking spaces along Livingston Avenue.  Traffic was light.

The last time I was at the State Theatre was February, 2020.  In the meantime the place has undergone considerable renovation.  The price on the ticket is $35, but an additional $8 in fees.  My ticket was for the first three rows of the balcony, which was quite full.  Otherwise the balcony was empty, so several people moved to Rows D and E.  I sat in Row D.

Overall, this was an enjoyable concert.  And I joined in the enthusiastic (for New Jersey audiences) applause for a job well-done.

The State Theatre underwent considerable renovations during the Pandemic.  This is the lobby at the balcony level.

Ceiling of auditorium.

Taken 2 minutes before 3 pm.  Empty section of balcony.  A few more people moved to this area just before the concert started.