New York Philharmonic. Jaap van Zweden, conductor; Joseph Alessi, trombone. March 21, 2024.

David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.  Orchestra (Seat AA118, $70).

At the conclusion of the concert.  Notice only "traditional" instruments were used in the Scottish Symphony - not even a harp.

Program

To See the Sky: an exegesis for orchestra (2023) by Joel Thompson (b. 1988).

Trombone Concerto: Three Muses in Video Game (2021) by Tan Dun (b. 1957).

Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56, Scottish (1840-42) by Mendelssohn (1809-47).

I don't know who "estimates" how long a concert is, but 1:30 minutes is way off the mark.  The three pieces along add to 80 minutes, throw in a 20- to 30-minute intermission and we are close to two hours.  The concert concluded at 9:24 pm.

It is difficult to understand how these three pieces fit together as a program.  Joel Thompson is in his 30s, still in school (getting a doctorate at Yale).  And I suppose he is known among a lot of people in the music composition world, but not much beyond that.  Tan, on the other hand, became internationally known with the music for the movie "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon," that was 2000.  His history of composition started way before that.  Mendelssohn, on the other hand, was from the early nineteenth century, and his two "Scottish" compositions are part of the standard repertoire in the classical music world.

So, per my new way of thinking about performances, this concert had little chance of being a great one (again, I can name only a handful great concerts I have witnessed).  That said, the overall experience was tremendously satisfying.

With modern composers I have to use my left brain, as their compositions usually call for analysis rather than enjoyment.  The satisfaction is being able to "understand" the work in some way.  Joel Thompson certainly didn't make it easy by naming the work after a line in a song "Sometimes you have to gaze into a well to see the sky."  The logic of this escapes me, but he further explains his desire to expand beyond trauma as a Black man in this country (paraphrasing him, correctly, I hope).  Whether this work is a reflection of that, I am not sure, but he used "rhythms of his youth" with the conviction that it doesn't make the music Jazz (again a paraphrase).  I would agree that was indeed the case, and would opine that his music was accessible.  I can't quite put a label on it, but I am still puzzled how the movements can be described as I. Sometimes ... II ... you have to gaze into a well ... III ... to see the sky.

Tan's Trombone Concerto is similarly mysteriously titled.  The Program Notes contains a description of what he meant by a "muse" in a video game.  His intention in writing this was to attract young people to this genre, and he claims "through this piece I reached a lot of young people."  The three muses are muse of bili, muse of xiqin, and muse of sheng, three ancient Chinese musical instruments depicted in some Dunhuang cave paintings.  One could argue if the sounds were anything like these instruments, but I am hard pressed to associate what I heard with a video game.  My experience with video games is very limited, of course.

In all that discussion, one may forget this is a trombone concerto.  We heard Alessi recently, and this concerto also asked the trombonist to do amazing things.  One of those days I will learn about the trombone and its capabilities, but tonight's performance seemed to use only a limited number of techniques.  Yes, it is amazing such a bulky instrument can sound so agile, and how much practice it takes to get the intonation just right, at such a high speed, but that seemed to be it.  I do wonder how often a trombonist gets to be a soloist twice in a year.

The bottom line is that - to my surprise - I found the Thompson piece more enjoyable than Tan's.

Mendelssohn wrote the Fingal Cave Overture soon after he visited Scotland, and the Scottish Symphony about 10 years later.  At 40 minutes it is quite long, and one wonders occasionally if all those repeats are needed.  Overall, however, it is a delightful piece to listen to, especially when performed by a competent orchestra.  While it probably is not program music, one can easily associate with what one might expect to feel while visiting Scotland (stretching a bit here).  Scotland has its dark and stormy days, I thought there was not enough of that.  The four movements are (I) Andante con moto - Allegro un poco agitato; (II) Vivace non troppo; (III) Adagio; and (IV) Allegro vivacissimo - Allegro maestoso assai.  The program says the movements are played without pause, but there were clear pauses in today's performance.  I don't think it mattered one way or another.

Since the concert lasted about two hours, we missed the 9:38 pm train by a few minutes, and intead took the 10:23 pm train home.

Joel Thompson at the conclusion of his piece.

Joseph Alessi after performing Tan Dun's Trombone concerto.

Hoboken Children's Theater. Jungle Book Kids. March 10, 2024.

Hoboken Children's Theater.  Stalls ($5).

Anne and I drove up to see this performance.  Afterwards we spent some time in Bloomfield Street.

NYO-USA All-Stars. Yannick Nezet-Sequin, conductor; Daniil Trifonov, piano. March 14, 2024.

Isaac Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall.  Balcony.  (Seat H121, $44).

Nezet-Seguin and Trifonov after Gershwin's Concerto in F.

Program

Piano Concerto in F by George Gershwin (1898-1937).

Symphony No. 7 in C Major, Op. 60, "Leningrad" by Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975).

Artists: Alumni of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America

I have not had time to do a lot of research on NYO, and the description in the Playbill is quite sketchy.  It has been in existence for a little over a decade, the ensemble goes through an intensive practice during the summer, and then does a Carnegie Hall performance and an international tour.  For the current year the conductor will be Marin Alsop.  Tonight's orchestra consisted of about 100 of the alumni.  Many are now members of professional orchestras, some are associated with universities and conservatories, and several are free lance musicians.

Both the conductor and the solo pianists are of course superstars in the classical music world.  This concert would be in high demand.

Yet I got an email a couple of weeks ago saying there were still seats available, and when I checked a few days prior to the concert, sections of the balcony were completely empty.  By the time of the performance, the auditorium was pretty filled up, except for the upper balcony.

I didn't have a chance to look at the program carefully, and erroneously thought the piano concerto would be Ravel's F major.  It was only after the starting few measures that I realized it wasn't Ravel.  Gershwin of course sounded very different from Ravel, and his music has a definite American feel to it.  Scattered among the three movements were passages requiring the highest level of virtuosity, which as usual Trifonov dispatched with ease.  Most of the time it was easy to pick out the piano, but there were instances the piano was drowned out by the large orchestra.  The three movements are Allegro; Adagio - Andante con moto; and Allegro agitato.

A substantial orchestra was deployed for the piano concerto, drowning out the piano at times.

For encore Trifonov played a piece based on the popular song "When I Fall in Love."  [Note added 3/19.  Carnegie Hall now lists the encores on their webpage, indeed it was YOUNG / HEYMAN "When I Fall in Love" (arr. Bill Evans).

I heard Shostakovich's Leningrad symphony before, in 2018, performed by the NY Phil, conducted by van Zweden.  There I expressed the feeling (or tried to) that the description of the piece made it sound intriguing, but the actual music was much less so.  Tonight I got a similar feeling.  Many different interpretations of the piece were offered, mostly about whether Shostakovich was being sincere or cynical when he composed the music.  The Annotator Jack Sullivan even allowed that the current interpretation is affected by today's culture.  Which is well and good, but I have to ask how would a different culture - mainland Chinese, for instance - interpret it?  

For me the more basic question is, what did Shostakovich have in mind when he wrote this?  I find the following quote in the Program Notes, attributed to Shostakovich, puzzling: "I have nothing against calling the Seventh the 'Leningrad' Symphony, but it's not about Leningrad under siege, it's about the Leningrad Stalin destroyed and Hitler merely finished off."  Did I get the chronology wrong?  I thought Stalin was after the Nazi's.

Perhaps more encounters with this piece would make me appreciate it more.  From tonight I got to appreciate how the "invasion theme" was built up at the beginning of the movement, and how the repeated snare drum pattern reminded me of Ravel's Bolero.  The movements of the symphony are: Allegretto, Moderato (Poco allegretto), Adagio, and Allegro non troppo.

An even larger orchestra was used for the Shostakovich symphony.  Notice the much larger brass section (orchestra's rear right).  If one looks carefully, the concertmaster is switched.  As far as I could tell, the one who led the Gershwin was now sitting in the back of the second violin section.  Seating for other members were changed also.  Nezet-Seguin's shoes had soles with sequins, making a strong reflection that at times looked like small light bulbs.

Nezet-Sequin gave his all when conducting this music, I could even hear his shout at some point.  And from the balcony the orchestra movements looked quite interesting at times.

The Gershwin piece was about 30 minutes, the Leningrad 75, so with a late start and an encore the concert didn't end until 10:35 pm or so.  The 11:18 pm train got me to South Amboy after midnight; Anne picked me up.

New Jersey Symphony. Xian Zhang, conductor; Tom Borrow, piano. March 14, 2024.

NJPAC, Newark, NJ.  Orchestra (Seat H101, $46).

At the conclusion of the concert.  Notice on the far right the regular principal bass.

Program

NightVision (2001, rev. 2002) by Ludwig (b. 1974).

Piano Concerto No. 24 (1786) in C Minor, K. 491 by Mozart (1756-1791).

Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64 by Tchaikovsky.

It was a nice spring day.  The cherry blossoms are in bloom.

The Program Notes contains much praise for the two "classical" pieces for this after (concert start 1:30 pm).  And its description of NightVision is quite interesting also.  My first thoughts were the concert had the potential of being "great," but would the NJ Symphony be able to deliver?

Ludwig's name is David Serkin Ludwig.  He is Peter Serkin's nephew, and Rudolf Serkin's grandson.  So quite a musical heritage.  He is no slouch either, as he is Dean of Music at Julliard.  (The others Deans head up dance and drama.)  This 7-minute piece was commissioned and premiered by NJ Symphony in 2001, over 20 years ago.  Per the Program Notes, the piece has quasi-minimalist, Coplandesque, Straussian, and Hollywood cinematic elements, but demonstrates Ludwig's eclectic personal musical language.  One could argue all that is true.

During the brief on-stage dialog with Zhang, Ludwig joked that he was a Julliard dropout, and he still made it as a dean at the school.  He also had the sense of humor to say something is wrong if the interview is longer than the piece itself.

As the piece was his first orchestral composition, I do question if it truly represents his musical language.  In any case, having listened to his music for all of seven minutes, I cannot tell what his language is, anyway.  The piece did not leave me scratching my head, so that's something.

Zhang and Ludwig had a brief dialog before his piece was performed.

After the performance of NightVision.

Mozart's 24th piano concerto is not that familiar to me, so it took me on a ride in directions that I didn't expect.  The Israel-born Borrow put in an excellent performance.

The Program Notes describes the opinion of a musicologist who thinks the C Minor compositions written by Mozart suggest that Mozart was severely depressed during that period.  Frankly I have my doubts.  Yes, one can convince oneself music in minor keys tends to be sad, introspective, or melancholic, the 24th certainly fits that bill, but to use that (and other pieces, I know) to make such a diagnosis is really stretching it.  If one assumes Mozart also wrote music in major keys, are we then to diagnose him with another kind of psychiatric problem?

As encore Burrow played Rachmaninoff's Prelude Op. 32, No. 2 in G sharp minor.  Probably to show off his virtuoso side.  He didn't announce the piece, so how did I find out?  I surreptitiously used the Google "Song" function.  I am impressed, both by the pianist, and by what Google can do.

Israel-born Tom Borrow was born in 2000.

The Tchaikovsky Fifth Symphony is a war horse for orchestras.  For me the notable characteristic is the use of the same opening theme in all the four movements, a practice not common among composers or in their compositions. It was many many years ago, but I still consider among the live performances I heard the one Blomstedt did with the NY Phil in 2012 is the best one I have heard. With passage of time, the specifics that I enjoyed - apart from the notes I took - have faded.  The one characteristic that still stands out was Blomstedt allowing the orchestra to let loose; instead of sounding chaotic, the music felt like horses galloping forward with abandon.  Will Zhang execute a controlled performance, or will she let the orchestra run on its own.  We are talking about the NJ Symphony, so I do worry what would happen if the members are given the "fire at will" command.  It turned out to be a controlled, but also enjoyable, performance.

While the concert didn't turn out to be "great," but it was memorable.  And how many "great" concerts can one expect to encounter anyway.  (Right now Mehta's performances of the Bruckner and Mahler Symphonies, and the Blomstedt one discussed here, are the three that readily come to mind.)

NJPAC really needs to get its act together.  Last time, with Joshua Bell, getting the audience seated took a long time.  It was a full house, so may be understandable (still not excusable).  Today's turnout was reasonable, but it wasn't until 1:40 pm that the audience began to settle down.  Some suggestions: start the process earlier, print the door number on the ticket, or make it easier to move from one aisle to the other.  Also, the customer sometimes can be right.  There was this lady whose seat is in the middle, perhaps one or two seats closer to the other door.  The usher insisted she go back, and enter through the "proper" door.  There was perhaps one person in that row, so it would be easy enough.  The lady just ignored the usher and took her seat.  All that time people were waiting to have the usher make sure they "belong."

Rosamunde String Quartet. Bejamin Hochman, piano. March 10, 2024.

Town Hall.  Auditorium.  (Seat N117, $15.45)

Program

String Quartet in C Major, Op. 20, No. 2 (1772) by Haydn (1792-1809).

String Quartet No. 3 (1927) by Bartok (1881-1945).

Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 44 (1842) by R. Schumann (1810-1856).

At the end of the concert.  Bendix-Balgley, Hochman, Yao, Vickery and Li.

Quartet: Noah Bendix-Balgley and Shanshan Yao, violins; Teng Li, viola; Nathan Vickery, cello.

This is another concert in the PSC series that I subscribed to for the season.  Even in my jag-lagged state (I returned from a 3+ week trip to Australia and Asia the day before), it had to be one of the more enjoyable and well-performed concerts I have attended.

As I have stated many times before, I am not a chamber music person.  It's counterintuitive that four or five lines of music are more difficult to follow than the many sections in a symphony orchestra.  My brain and my ears are just not tuned that way.

Today, however, the lines were clear, the interplay easy to appreciate, and the overall effect was simply magnificent (getting carried away there a bit).

For the Haydn piece Yao had the first violin, and for Bartok it was Bendix-Balgley.  As Bendix-Balgley explained after the first piece, the Haydn piece is a delight, the Bartok piece runs the gamut of folk music to (close to) rock and roll, and Schumann's composed during his chamber music period, and is a prime example of music from the Romantic period.  I didn't need more description than that today.

All the musicians play (or played) in world-renown orchestras.  Bendix-Balgley is a first concertmaster at Berlin Philharmonic, Teng Li the principal violist at LA Phil, and Vickery the youngest cellist hired by NY Phil.  (And what is the difference between a concertmaster and a first concertmaster?)

My usual complaint about not being able to hear the viola wasn't a problem today.  Perhaps there were fewest lines to follow, or perhaps Li simply projected well.  Indeed, sometimes I thought the viola was too loud.  For the Schumann piece I wish the piano was louder, as it was it sounded like it was background oftentimes.  Make no mistake though: today's was a great concert.

As usual, I sat in the back (Row R) so I could make a quick getaway at the end to catch the 4:07 pm train home.

The train timetables are such I got into NY before 1 pm, so I decided to take walk (all the way to 3rd Avenue) to get my steps in.  I was surprised how much homelessness I encountered along the way.