Bronfman and Zhang after performance of Schumann's Piano Concerto.
Program
Landscape Impression (2023) by Chen (b. 1953).
Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 (1841-45) by R. Schumann (1810-56).
Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 17 (1872; 1879-80) by Tchaikovsky (1840-93).
A keen observer will notice some overlap between last Friday's NJSO concert and this NY Phil concert: same conductor, and one piece in common. I was quite curious to see if there is daylight between my "hometown" orchestra (well, more like my home state) and one of the better known orchestras in the world. Same conductor, same piece, what better comparison can there be?
This comparison would have been unthinkable say 15 years ago, a time when I described the NJSO as a "Jekyll and Hyde" ensemble, depending on who was doing the conducting. This is much less so nowadays, although the orchestra every now and then would disappoint. As it did last Friday.
Before I launch into the Tchaikovsky, let me first talk about the two other pieces.
We missed the premiere of Chen Yi's piece with NJ Symphony in early June, 2023. It was commissioned by the NJ Symphony with Zhang at the helm. Su Shi, a well-known Chinese poet, wrote two different poems in the 1070s (yes, about a thousand years ago) called Landscape and The West Lake, both describing the famous lake near Hangzhou. The former painted a stormy scene, and the latter a serene one. Chen combined (and intermixed) the images in this 10-minute composition. While it was written for a Western orchestra, many elements of Chinese composition (e.g., echoes of Chinese music instruments, melodic arcs).
I caught some of the Chinese elements in the music. But the landscape was more difficult to pin down. I visited the West Lake once, on a nice day, where people enjoyed themselves by the lake shore, in boats on the lake, or along footpaths with blossoming shrubs (Osmanthus). The calm sections didn't remind me of that short experience. In any case, things may have changed a bit over the last millennium.
Chen has a compelling life story. Born in 1953, hers was the generation that had their high school and university education interrupted by (or even lost to) the Cultural Revolution. She managed to maintain and hone her craft during those difficult years. She now lives in Kansas City, Missouri.
Chen's Landscape Impression led the program this afternoon.
The Schumann piano concerto is always enjoyable when played well (perhaps it doesn't even have to be played that well). Bronfman as usual put in an excellent performance. For encore he played Arabeske in C Major, Op. 18, also by Schumann (thanks Google for identifying the piece). Although Bronfman grew up in Israel, he was born in today's Uzbekistan. So perhaps there is a strong tradition of classical music in that part of the world after all.
Now to the Tchaikovsky, and mostly about how NJSO compares with NY Phil. There certainly was a lot of daylight between the two, one might even go as far as saying day and night - but I won't. An observation that pains me. The major distinction was how precise the performance was. The large number of instruments increased the volume of the sound, but not how chaotic the sections sounded. Certainly the NJSO musicians are capable of pulling the piece off. After all, one of them played as a temp today, and the solo horn sounded equally solid in NJSO's performance; but they couldn't begin and end at the same exact moments. To be charitable, NJSO does not do as many concerts (not even half the number) as NY Phil, so the musicians have less time to do music together.
The conductor was the same for both performances, so I assume she worked equally well with both orchestras. Zhang worked a few years with NY Phil assisting Loren Maazel about 20 years ago; and she has been with NJSO for 10 years. Somewhere I read (probably in then Avery Fisher Hall) the conductor adds about 10% to the performance; that would imply the difference was in the orchestras. NJSO still has a long way to go yet.
Actually even the Program Notes made quite a difference in my appreciation of the piece. The NJSO notes doesn't go beyond mentioning that Ukrainian melodies are used in three of the four movements. The NY Phil notes, however, gives brief descriptions of the three - and that made a ton of difference in my understanding of the piece.
Musicians from different sections being acknowledged by Zhang after the Tchaikovsky Symphony.
These points came to me only afterwards. I just sat there and enjoyed the piece as it was performed.
And I continue to wish NJSO great success.
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