Richardson Auditorium at Princeton University. Balcony Left (Seat CC11, $69).
Program
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 83 by Brahms.
Don Juan, Op. 20 by Richard Strauss.
Suite from Der Rosenkavalier, Op. 59 by Strauss.
Today is some sort of a double-header, Yuja Wang in the morning, Daniil Trifonov in the evening. I bet that doesn't happen often. It's with two different orchestras, though.
Trifonov was supposed to perform a Brahms concerto (not sure if it was the 1st or the 2nd) with the NJ Symphony in November, 2021, but performed instead Beethoven's second because of an injury.
There is much contrast between Brahms' two concertos. The second one starts boldly, and demands a great deal of virtuosity from the performer, which Trifonov (as usual) handled with ease. From our seat in the balcony of this small auditorium, the performance felt very intimate.
A couple of remarks. First was both Brahms concertos are on the long side at around 50 minutes, although with a great performance time went by quickly. The second was this duet between the cello and the piano in the slow movement: one wishes the two instruments are in more balance - in this instance the cello was way too loud, even though Spitzer put out a great sound. I discovered with amusement that Principal Flute Feller also doubled as a piccolo player for this piece. NJ Symphony does have someone listed under "Piccolo" in its roster.
For encore we heard a lyrical duet between Trifonov and Spitzer.
Trifonov and Principal Cellist Spitzer after performing a lyrical encore.
Don Juan was the first work by Strauss that was popular world-wide. He was 24 years old when he wrote it. The opera Der Rosenkavalier, however, was written more than twenty years later. Don Juan is a tone poem, a genre popularized by Strauss. Per Wikipedia, Strauss had nothing to do with the Suite from Der Rosenkavalier, which Wikipedia speculates as being arranged by Rodzinski as he conducted at the world premiere by the New York Philharmonic (in 1945). Strauss evidently didn't object to it;
A Strauss musicologist can probably describe how his composition style changed and matured in the intervening years. For the casual (and somewhat serious) listener, Strauss's music is best understood in terms of the various motifs (or tunes, since they can be quite long) he uses to describe the different characters and scenes. (Other examples that come readily to mind are "A Hero's Life" and The Alpine Symphony.) I hadn't taken the time to review these motifs. One can discern several themes in Don Juan, but with Der Rosenkavalier some familiarity with the opera helps. The two well-known motifs from the Suite are "Presentation of the Rose" and "Baron Ochs's Waltz." Several sensual scenes can be observed in the work also.
The orchestration for Der Rosenkavalier certainly was more complex than that of Don Juan. Here a third flute/double piccolo was used, and the percussion section included a ratchet. The cymbals for some reason sounded tentative on several occasions.
A harpist was used in Don Juan. Also notice a third flutist.
Two harps were used in the Der Rosenkavalier Suite.
CS and Shirley went to the concert also, and we had dinner before at SCHouse in Princeton. Both Anne and Shirley know the cook there. On the way back we discussed how energetic Zhang is, and whether that is a good quality to have. I am generally okay with that, and the quality of NJ Symphony - even with its Jekyll and Hyde performances - has certainly improved considerably during her tenure. I do wonder, however, if the Strauss pieces wouldn't have sounded as chaotic if she had been a bit restrained.
Dinner with old friends before the concert.
CS did the driving. The concert was quite long, so we got home rather late.
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