New York Philharmonic. Santtu-Matias Rouvali, conductor; Yuja Wang, piano. January 6, 2023.

David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.  Tier 1 Parterre (Seat EE205, $53).

Program

Overture to Semiramide (1822) by Rossini (1792-1868).

Piano Concerto No. 3 (2022) by Magnus Lindberg (b. 1958).

Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36 (1801-02) by Beethoven (1770-1827).

Rouvali and Wang at the end of the Lindberg Piano Concerto.

If I am being honest, the draw of today's program is Yuja Wang.  Still a victim of "big names," a well-known artist is enough to draw me to a concert.  For this year the exception is the NJPAC performance by Ma, Ax, and Kavakos; I refuse to pay Ticketmaster $22.60 (checked just now) to buy a ticket for the event.

Back to the entry at hand, today's Piano Concerto turned out to be a disappointment, on a couple of levels.

First, the "new" David Geffen Hall (technically the Wu Tsai Theater) has new seating sections behind the orchestra, which gives the overall Hall a more intimate feeling.  That intimacy, however, doesn't extend to the solo piano.  With its lid open, the piano's sound projects towards the main auditorium, and those in the back (called parterre to make it sound distinguished) hear a rather muffled sound.  So there was a level of frustration that while Wang pounded away (and she did, often) at the keyboard, I still had to listen intently for what was produced.

I do wonder, however, whether my reaction would have been any different if I had been able to hear the piano clearly.  My overall impression: a lot of movement, but the music never seemed to want to get anywhere.

Lindberg came on stage at the end of the concerto.

CS took this blurry picture of Wang, dressed more conservatively than usual. Those must be 4" heels though.

Lindberg of course sees it differently, in the Program Notes he is quoted as saying the work is "almost like an opera," "it's huge in a way, ... the biggest piece I have written," "I would almost call it three concertos in one piece," and "... a chart of eight different characters ... like a William Faulkner novel: There are many stories going on at the same time ..."  All of that is true, no doubt, but how much is a first-time listener expected to grasp this richness in his work? By the way, the markings for the movements are really helpful: first, second, and third.  And Lindberg's level of self-confidence - bordering on hubris - almost rivals that of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss.

In a previous entry I said "I am certainly glad Lindberg's tenure as composer-in-residence will end this year."  That was 2010, quite a while ago.  I see no reason to revise that statement.  I admire those who love Lindberg's work.  Some of these composers - Lindberg included - use computers to generate (ideas for) their music, I would similarly need a computer to understand their work.

It's interesting that this modern composition was bookended by two works composed about 200 years ago.

The Overture to Semiramide started the program for the morning.

Beethoven's Second Symphony concluded the program.  I found myself humming some of the tunes the next couple of days.

We saw Semiramide at the Met with Angela Mead in the title role, back in 2018.  The Program Notes reminded the reader that this was a tragedy, with her son killing her (accidentally, per my entry for that performance) at the end.  The overture itself, however, sounded very crisp and bright (thus very "Rossini") which is a bit incongruent with the overall story - I don't recall hearing a single ominous passage in the overture.  At about 12 minutes, it is rather long for an overture.  Enjoyable, though.

The Beethoven piece brought out a few things.  As the Podcast "StickyNotes" says many times, Beethoven could get away with a lot of things that other composers cannot, in this case how often a theme is repeated.  The second was Beethoven is still pleasant to listen to - if it is well-performed, as it was today.  Symphony No. 2 sounds very much like Mozart and Haydn.  His Number 3 (Eroica) definitely shows a huge change in his compositional style; what's amazing is No. 2 is dated 1801-1802, while No. 3 is dated 1803, just one or two years later.

What I didn't expect, however, was how "routine" these two pieces sounded.  The Beethoven piece, in particular, was a representative of change in compositional periods.  One can legitimately ask whether these warhorses are enough to sustain the continued popularity of the classical genre.  Probably not, but that doesn't necessary mean the mantle has passed on to many of the modern composers.

The Finnish conductor Rouvali looks younger than his 37 years, and one of his teachers was Hannu Lintu, whom we saw recently.  Rouvali vocalized quite a bit, especially during the Beethoven piece.  I assume all conductors do that, it's just clearer when one is facing him.  Some people have described his moves as that of a ballet dancer; his flowing curly locks of hair and mannerisms remind me of Dudamel (who is only 42).  Rouvali will also conduct the next NY Phil series, which makes me wonder if he is auditioning for the post to be vacated by van Zweden in a couple of years.  We have tickets to that concert, with similar seats.  The solo piece is a violin concerto, I wonder if the sound would carry better in that case.

This concert was at 11 am, we took the train up.  CS also attended this concert.