David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center. Orchestra (Seat BB103, $94.50).
Alsop and Huang shaking hands after performance of Barber's Symphony No. 1.
Program
Symphony No. 1 (in One Movement) Op. 9 (1935-36) by Barber (1910-81).
Concerto for Trombone (2020) by Corea (1941-2021).
Selections from Romeo and Juliet, Suites Nos. 1, 2, and 3 (1935-36/1946) by Prokofiev (1891-1953).
The concert was sometimes billed as "Joseph Alessi plays Chick Corea." That Marin Alsop was going to conduct didn't push it over the line for me, until I saw a 30% discount offer for tonight's tickets. At $94.50 (including fees) for seats in the Rear Orchestra section, they were still expensive.
I am rushing to get ready for a trip overseas, so I can only jot down what I thought of each of the pieces.
Barber wrote Symphony No. 1 when he was quite young, and the piece's premiere in Rome helped launch Barber as a serious American composer. The composer supplied a layout for the piece when the piece was premiered by the New York Philharmonic, calling it a synthetic treatment of the four-movement classical symphony. The acute listener can follow the sections Allegro non troppo, Allegro, scherzo, Andante tranquillo, capped with a recapitulation for the entire symphony. Alas, I am not an acute listener.
If asked to guess who Chick Corea was, I would say a jazz musician. And I would mostly correct, although he also performed as a classical musician, and wrote music in the classical tradition (my wording). He was spurred into writing this concerto by NY Phil's principal trombonist, Joseph Alessi. Unfortunately he passed away before the piece was premiered in Sao Paulo. The orchestration was done by Corea's frequent collaborator John Dickson.
There was a full array of percussion instruments, including many I had never heard of before (e.g., clave, gankoqui, sabar, shekere, almglocken, and many others). I counted eight percussionist, a timpanist (Kyle Zerna), a pianist, and a celesta player. Turns out the pianist was John Dickson. Also, almglocken are tuned cowbells, why not just say so? We don't say Cor Anglais (English Horn) in programs, do we?
The concerto was about 25 minutes long, played without breaks. The sections are titled: A Stroll; Waltse for Joe; Hysteria; and Joe's Tango. I wonder if the concerto showcased all the things one could do with a trombone - no doubt a difficult instrument to master - and came away hoping it did not. Perhaps a heavily jazz quality would at least make the music easier to understand.
Alessi acknowledged John Dickson, and the two performed an encore.
Alessi and Alsop after performing Corea's Trombone Concerto. Notice the array of percussion instruments in the back.
John Dickson did the orchestration for Corea's piece. He was the pianist in the orchestra. He and Alessi played an encore.
For the Prokofiev piece, Alsop made selections from all three suites Prokofiev put together, and arranged them in an order that made "musical sense." I thought it by-an-large also made "plot sense." It was a very enjoyable performance of a much loved piece. The concertmaster Frank Huang had to do quite a few solos, and did them well.
The movements are: The Montagues and the Capulets; Scene; Morning Dance; The Child Juliet; Masks; Friar Laurence; Dance of the Five Couples; The Death of Tybalt; Dance of the Girls with Lilies; Aubade; Romeo at the Tomb of Juliet; The Death of Juliet.
Tonight's concert concluded with selection from the different Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet suites.
When I started humming a tune from the ballet, Anne pointed out it was actually from Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite. I was duly embarrassed.
There are concerts that hold a potential of being great or a disaster - such as a Mahler symphony. And there are concerts that - if one looks at the program - will never rise to the "great" level. That was the thought I had going in, and that was the conclusion I drew coming out. I tried to have an open mind, and held out hope I was wrong. The Prokofiev suite pushed the concert forward, but didn't quite manage to take it across the line.
This is Memorial Day weekend, we stopped by Hoboken to visit. Taking the bus to Port Authority followed by a subway ride to Lincoln Center is convenient when things work well. Today they worked well. We didn't get home until 11:45 pm, actually not too bad considering the concert didn't end until 10:10 pm or so.
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