Prudential Hall at NJPAC.
Tier 1 (Seat C5, $78.15).
Program
Coriolan Overture, Op. 62 by Beethoven
(1770-1827).
Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op.6 by Paganini
(1782-1840).
Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 by Brahms (1833-1897).
One of the more noticeable aspects was the auditorium was
well occupied for this concert, compared especially to most of the NJSO
concerts I have attended. Tier 1 was
about half occupied, and the part of the orchestra section I could see from our
seat was also quite full. Something like
“a prophet is not welcome at home,” or there are too many NJSO concerts every
season.
The “advertisement” for the concert had a placeholder
called “The Opening Work,” turns out to be the Coriolan Overture. It was clearly Beethoven (duh) but isn’t nearly
as popular as some of his Lenore overtures.
The Wiki entry for this work describes the general outline of the play
for which the overture was composed:
Coriolan wanted to invade Rome but was dissuaded by his mother, he ends up
killing himself. In hindsight the music
made a lot more sense. I couldn’t have
prepared for it since I didn’t know what it was until I got to the concert
hall.
After performance of Beethoven's Coriolan Overture.
Paganini’s works for the violin need no introduction; they
are show pieces for the soloist. I
listened to it, a lot, when I was much younger, so still remembered quite a bit
of it. Suffice it to say it asks a lot
from the violinist: double stopes (some with 10ths), double harmonics, double
glissandos, great speed, left-hand pizzicatos, large interval jumps, and notes
that reach the end of the finger board.
Most of that I got from looking at the score, I am not sure Bell did all
of them. What he did was amazing. There were sloppy bits here or there,
unavoidable in a live performance, but generally the exquisite sound he made
while tackling all the technical challenges was just impressive. And it was against a rather large orchestra
with quite a few brass instruments in it.
Thrown in the midst are nice breaks of very hummable melodies that
highlight the lyrical aspects of the instrument.
The cadenza that Bell wrote sounded like the highlight
reel of the movement. I imagine he knows
which parts he does well and concentrated on those.
After the Paganini Violin Concerto. Notice the additional brass instruments in the back.
The Wiki entry to the piece says the key is actually E-flat
major, and that the solo violin is written in D major, with the instrument
tuned a semi-tone higher (scordatura) so it is both easier to play (Wiki says
it’s impossible) and to sound more brilliant.
Supposedly on of Paganini’s tricks that he was very secretive about.
The concert concluded with Brahms’s Symphony No. 4. While it is not as thrilling as the Paganini
concerto, it was a heavy intellectual piece that required concentration to
appreciate. From the applause the
audience gave at the end of the third movement, I was not the only one who felt
a little tired. I was quite familiar
with the first three movements, but the fourth sounded unfamiliar. One reason I give is my attention span got
used up by then (chuckle).
The concert concluded at around 10 pm with the Brahms Symphony. A rather intense program.
It is difficult not to compare this Orchestra with the
Orpheus or the Australian Chamber Orchestra (which we saw on TV). It is larger than the Orpheus, but unlike the
ACO, the director (in this case Bell) also played in the Brahms Symphony. It is clear that Bell had only the violin
part in front of him, so either he has a great memory (possible) or he only
cues in the critical parts (likely). My
question is does the orchestra need him to play or direct? Would there be less muddling of the sound if
he directs?
In any case, a great evening of music. Even traffic to Newark was heavy, NJPAC was
still easier to get to than Lincoln Center.
Naturally for the next few days we have concerts in Lincoln Center every
day (3 concerts and an opera).
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