New York Philharmonic. Simone Young, conductor; Steven Isserlis, cello. May 1, 2025.

David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.  Orchestra (Seat FF102, $89).

Isserlis after performance Schumann's Cello Concerto.

Program

Notturno for Strings and Harp (1895) by Schoenberg (1874-1951).

Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129 (1850) by R. Schumann (1810-56).

Symphony No. 6 in A major (1879-81; ed. L. Nowak, 1952) by Bruckner (1824-96).

Both the Schoenberg and the Bruckner pieces are not often heard live in concert nowadays.  To underscore this point: for the NY Phil this is the first performance of the Schoenberg piece, and it was in January 2016 that Bruckner 6th was last performed.  I have no recollection of ever listening to it (turns out I have, multiple times).  The Bruckner piece is also remarkable as one of his few works that have (had?) not been heavily modified after its completion, either by himself, or by one of his students.

Nocturne was written before Schoenberg developed his 12-tone technique (1923), and when he was about 20.  The music equivalent of Picasso's neoclassical period?  Given that he probably had been self-taught, it is a rather impressive piece.  Indeed, both Strauss and Mahler thought highly of him as a "classical" composer.  The short 4-minute piece called for long passages by the solo violin (and Frank Huang's name is listed in the program), and the title has "for Strings and Harp."  The harp, however, did not figure as prominently as the violin; it mostly was part of the orchestra ensemble.  While the piece wasn't particularly captivating, it did pique my interest in Schoenberg's early compositions.  I do wonder if he had an early style that is easily recognizable to one familiar with that body of work.

Notturno is a short 4-minute piece composed by Schoenberg before atonality set in.  The concertmaster had quite a workout in the piece.

The Program Notes mentions that Bruckner's Symphony No. 6 isn't as popular as some of his other works.  Indeed, I wasn't familiar with it.  To me, Bruckner tends to stay on his themes a long time, develop them fully before moving to the next passage.  I didn't get that at all this evening.  While I heard precision, dynamics, and a great sound, I simply couldn't figure out what the symphony was saying.  I expected a lot more, because of the orchestra, the conductor, and my memories of prior encounters with Bruckner.  Perhaps unfamiliarity had something to do with it?  Well, I found several entries on this symphony in this blog, and while many writeups reflect my head-scratching, I did enjoy the piece very much at least on one occasion, and that was performed by the NJ Symphony (yay!).  I also observe that Bruckner has somewhat lost his popularity recently.  [I am typing this after I went to the BSO concert a couple of days later, and I enjoyed Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8, a work that was/is also quite unfamiliar.  More on that when I work on that blog entry.]

It turns out I went to the last time NY Phil programmed this symphony.  I went to the January 27, 2016 concert, and the last concert of that series was on January 30.  And the one before that at NY Phil was in January, 2013.  Not sure what to think of it.  Indeed the symphony is programmed less frequently recently? And/or I go to too many NY Phil concerts?

A large orchestra was used in the performance of Bruckner's Sixth Symphony.

The Schumann piece in comparison felt like a pair of well-worn shoes (I mean this as a compliment).  The cellist delivered exactly what I expected.  His cello - a Strad - could have sounded a bit louder.  I also amaze at how a cellist's left fingers seem to dance all over the fingerboard in an elegant manner.  Isserlis played an encore piece, Google returned the title of "The Song of the Birds" performed by Isserlis, so I have to trust the result.  It can best be characterized as an ephemeral piece.  One can find many references to the piece on the web.  It was a Catalan folk song adapted into a cello piece, performed often by Pablo Casals in recognition of refugees all over the world.

What Google returned as the encore piece.

The concert lasted two hours, so we couldn't make the 9:38 pm train back to NJ (not helped by subways run every 10 minutes at night).  We would be going to Boston the next day.