Category: Music

Christmas Eve 2023 @ Carnegie Hall

Above: Jaime Laredo, Bella Hristova, and Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt

~ Author: Oberon

Sunday December 24th, 2023 – The New York String Orchestra’s Christmas Eve concert at Carnegie Hall this year was an all-Mozart program which featured soloists Bella Hristova (violin) and violist Milena Pajaro–van de Stadt (viola) with Jaime Laredo on the podium. I invited my long-time friend Rob Scott to join me; Rob was one of the very first people I met on moving to NYC twenty-five years ago. Later, he became Lisette Oropesa’s first manager, helping her to launch her brilliant career.

I learned the overture to The Marriage of Figaro long before I heard the complete opera: we played a transcription of it in my high-school band (we also played the prelude to Lohengrin Act III!). Tonight, the young players of the New York String Orchestra gave a lively and immaculately-played rendering of the Figaro, immediately setting the mood of the evening. There were many young children among the audience tonight, and this brisk music seemed to draw them in.

A wonderful sense of attentive silence was sustained in the hall throughout the playing of the Sinfonia concertante in E-flat Major, K. 364, which I was – incredibly enough – hearing “live” for the first time. Dating from 1779, this is simply a great piece of music. The two soloists chose striking gowns that brought a glamorous touch to the evening: Ms Hristova in an elegant, one-shoulder forest green frock, and Ms. Pajaro–van de Stadt in shimmering gold and silver.

In the Sinfonia‘s opening Allegro maestoso, duetting motifs for two horns are picked up by two oboes, with the orchestra’s basses sound velvety. Now the soloists join, their timbres ideally matched as they exchange phrases; displaying their fluent techniques; the two seem to converse whilst gracious horn harmonies are heard. In Mozart’s day, cadenzas were usually improvised by the performers, but in the Sinfonia Concertante’s first and second movements, the composer specifically wrote out the cadenzas. And what magical cadenzas they are, played tonight with great finesse and charm.

The ensuing Andante takes on a feeling of mournful lyricism, with Ms. Hristova’s beautifully sustained tone singing a lament that is then taken up by the duskier colours of Ms. Pajaro–van de Stadt’s viola. A sense of exquisite sadness slowly gives way to tender harmonies A rich tutti passage leads to the cadenza of the entwining solo voices, underscored by sustained horn tones. Bella’s enchanting trills take us to a sublimely poignant finish.

Maestro Laredo let the hushed atmosphere linger by keeping his arms poised before delving into the concluding Presto wherein the horns and oboes are again welcome, with the basses sounding so appealing to my ear. In a spirit of friendly competition, Mlles. Hristova and Pajaro–van de Stadt regaled us with their virtuosity, clearly savoring every phrase that Mozart offered them. A roar of applause rang out as the final note hung on the air, and our gracious soloists embraced one another. For this precious half-hour, the woes of the world had been forgotten.

The familiar Symphony No. 35, “Haffner“, made for a perfect end to the evening; despite the fact that some of the children in the crowd became a bit restive, the power of Mozart’s spirit prevailed. The young musicians handled all of the music’s demands with assurance, and I especially loved hearing the timpani lending an air of nobility to the concluding Presto.

~ Oberon

December 24, 2023
Eduardo Villa Has Passed Away

Tenor Eduardo Villa, a native of Santa Barbara, California, has passed away at the age of 70. Originally interested in musicals, he appeared in productions of Oliver!, West Side Story, and Paint Your Wagon before deciding to develop his voice further by studying at the University of Southern California, where his teachers included such luminaries as Martial Singher and Margaret Harshaw.

Upon winning the Metropolitan Opera Auditions in 1982, alongside Hei-Kyung Hong, Sylvia McNair, and Nancy Gustafson, Villa departed for Switzerland, where sang with Basel Opera Theater between 1983 and 1987. In 1986, he made his debut at the Paris Opéra as Verdi’s Don Carlo, and from 1987 to 1991 he appeared at the Munich State Opera.

When Villa began getting offers in the USA and Canada, he left Munich. Among his many contracts were appearances with Connecticut Opera at The Bushnell in Hartford, where I first heard his warm, passionate singing in BALLO IN MASCHERA, and later as an ardent suitor to Mary Dunleavy’s captivating Lucia di Lammermoor.

In 1992, Eduardo sang Jacopo in a concert performance of Verdi’s I DUE FOSCARI given by Eve Queler’s Opera Orchestra of New York. It was a very exciting evening, with soprano Martile Rowland and baritone Vladimir Chernov sharing enthusiastic ovations with the tenor.

Mr. Villa joined the Metropolitan Opera in 2002, debuting as Don Carlo and going on to make two dozen Met appearances (thru 2008) as Pinkerton, Don Jose, Calaf, Turiddu, Rodolfo in LUISA MILLER, Cavaradossi, Enzo Grimaldi, and Ernani.

I saw him at The Met as Radames in 2002 opposite Michelle Crider, and he was really impressive: a Met-sized voice with a nice Italianate ring to the tone. In my diary, I praised his vocal generosity, his ability to cut thru ensembles, and his sustained “Sacerdote! Io resto a te!!” at the end of the Nile Scene.

There is not a lot of Eduardo Villa’s singing on YouTube but there is an OTELLO duet with baritone Mark Rucker that gives a you a good idea of what kind of singer Mr. Villa was…watch and listen here.

~ Oberon

December 21, 2023
Golden Gate Gala ~ 1997

Frederica von Stade (above) and a host of other stars gathered to celebrate the 75th anniversary of San Francisco Opera with a televised gala in 1997.

Watch and listen to highlights from the concert here.

November 27, 2023
Victoria de los Angeles sings Chausson

The beloved Spanish soprano Victoria de los Angeles (above) sings Ernest Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer with the Orchestre de l”Association des Concerts Lamoureux, conducted by Jean-Pierre Jacquillat. The recording dates from 1969.

Listen here.

November 23, 2023
Lisette Oropesa ~ Bellini’s I PURITANI

Lisette Oropesa sings Elvira in Bellini’s I PURITANI in a concert performance given by the Teatro San Carlo, Naples, in July 2022.

Watch and listen here.

Cast:

Arturo Talbot – Xabier Anduaga; Elvira – Lisette Oropesa; Sir Riccardo Forth – Davide Luciano; Sir Giorgio – Gianluca Buratto; Enrichetta – Chiara Tirotta; Lord Gualtiero Walton – Nicolò Donini; Sir Bruno Robertson – Saverio Fiore

Conductor: Giacomo Sagripanti

November 21, 2023
Angel of Many Signs @ Gerald Lynch Theater

Above: performance photo by Alan Barnett

Author: Shoshana Klein

Saturday November 18th, 2023 – The New York Choral Society gave a concert on Saturday afternoon at the Gerald Lynch Theater, joined by the new-music focused Bergamot Quartet and composer/conductor/vocalist Raquel Acevedo Klein. The premise had to do with Hildegard von Bingen, and most of the repertoire was arrangements of her music for choir.

I love a continuous performance, but for this one, I never really had in idea of where we were in the program, even though there was supposedly a multi-movement work sharing the title of the concert in the middle – at some points it was clear that the choir was singing in English and I suppose that was the giveaway, but the setup and video never really changed, so it was a little hard to tell.

The concert began with Raquel Acevedo Klein only, singing with some electronic manipulations, as everyone else gathered on stage. It was a sizeable group, so it was effective to have something going on instead of just having the audience watch while people found their spots onstage.

The electronic element was interesting: Ms. Acevedo Klein (above, photo by Alan Barnett) is able to make some very cool things happen. She and the quartet mostly acted as sort of interludes between the choral pieces, sometimes with some overlap. It was a nice juxtaposition to have the older and newer, but didn’t feel like it had a lot of direction.

The video element was somewhat engaging as well, with one big screen behind the ensemble and two smaller ones flanking the stage. There were busy animations happening throughout the production, definitely tied to the music but only in instrumentation – usually when the quartet only was playing, the visuals would be sparser, one specific animation that recurred and tied things together a bit. When the whole choir was active, there would be many visuals that would come back to create a busy landscape, sometimes involving “angel” imagery, but usually not in a typical Christian imagining (which I did kind of appreciate, but this was never really explored as far as I could tell).

The pieces were certainly not bad – I’ll definitely admit I’m not much of a choir person and surely missed plenty of nuance. Overall, the performance was interesting but repetitive, and I just didn’t have a sense of the structure, narrative, or takeaway, which – given all of the extra elements – it seemed like there was going to be.

~ Shoshana Klein

November 20, 2023
Tormis/Britten/Prokofiev @ The NY Phil

Above: violinist Alena Baeva, photo by Andrej Grilc

Author: Ben Weaver

Friday November 17th, 2023 – Maestro Paavo Järvi returned to the New York Philharmonic’s David Geffen Hall for concerts featuring less familiar works by two of 20th Century’s greatest composers: Benjamin Britten and Sergei Prokofiev.

Benjamin Britten’s Violin Concerto, Op. 15 – the only work he composed in that genre – was written in 1938-39, soon after Britten heard the world premiere performance of Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto in 1936. Indeed, the soloist who premiered Berg’s work, Antonio Brosa, would premiere Britten’s Concerto in 1940 conducted by Sir John Barbirolli, and do so with the New York Philharmonic in NYC. (In another bit of trivia, Britten composed some of the concerto while staying with Aaron Copland.) Britten revised the composition as late as 1965 (when he heard that Jascha Heifetz was considering performing it, though Heifetz would supposedly go on to declare the work “unplayable”), and it was this final edition that violinist Alena Baeva performed in these concerts. (It’s playable after all.)

Opening with a series of timpani strokes can only evoke Beethoven’s Violin Concerto from more than a century earlier. The violin enters with a lament in the instrument’s highest registers – something Britten does often in the concerto. The second half of the first movement is taken over by a sort of a march, a persistent distant thumping, which reminded me of the villagers hunting Peter Grimes in Britten’s opera, composed a few years later.

Ms. Baeva, in her New York Philharmonic debut, makes a rather small and tinny sound that struggled to make an impression in the concerto’s dramatic moments. To Maestro Järvi’s credit, he kept the orchestra under control, so as not to cover the soloist altogether. But in the more intimate parts, Ms. Baeva was a deeply moving narrator, which makes me want to hear her in a chamber music setting. In the extended cadenza that concludes the second movement, Ms. Baeva was mesmerizing and dazzling. The final movement is a series of variations in the form of a passacaglia, and it concludes with a lament (movement is marked Andante lento), and here Ms. Baeva’s lyrical side was wonderfully moving.

Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 6 in E-flat minor, Op. 111 lives – unfairly – in the shadow of his more famous Fifth. Composed in 1945-47, and premiered later that year by Evgeny Mravinsky and the Leningrad Philharmonic, it is a magnificent work that never drags despite its roughly 45-minute run time.

The Sixth’s fortunes changed over the years. Despite an acclaimed premiere in 1947, it was soon condemned by all the usual Stalinist suspects and disappeared from Soviet concert halls until the 1960s. (It was more popular in the West; Leopold Stokowski first conducted it with the NY Philharmonic in 1949). One of the complaints against the work was that it was not cheerful enough to inspire the Soviet people. Which is perhaps fair enough, but Prokofiev was not trying to cheer anyone up with this particular symphony. It opens darkly in the low strings before moving on to more lyrical themes. The second movement is the most emotional part of the symphony, woodwinds shrieking in agony. And the third movement is the most cheerful of the three, but not cheerful enough to appease Stalin.

The Sixth sounds to me like the most mature of Prokofiev’s work. It never disintegrates into circus music, which – no matter how ironically – can on occasion be tiresome. Paavo Järvi certainly has this music in his bones and the NY Philharmonic delivered a stupendous performance. I ended up taking almost no notes as the music played because I was so hypnotized by what we heard. This is the sort of music the New York Philharmonic plays as well as anyone, and better than most.

Also included on the program was an unknown to most of us Overture No. 2 by the Estonian composer Veljo Tormis. Composed in 1958-59 it is a thrilling, expertly crafted work. Its highly dramatic, driven, almost cinematic opening (it would fit many movie chases beautifully), gives way to a lovely, if brief, cello solo (Patric Jee as the principal cellist in this performance). The middle section of the overture is reduced to a wonderful chamber-scale (just three violins at one point) before the breathless opening section returns. The work ends with three chords, long pauses between each one. Frequently, an audience will applaud prematurely, and certainly with an unfamiliar composition such as this, the risks were high. And yet – the silence held, Paavo Järvi controlling not just the orchestra, but, however briefly, the audience as well.

Which brings me to a brief point about audience behavior and etiquette; we all know that both have degraded seriously over the years. At this performance, sitting just an empty seat away myself and my companion, a young woman played Candy Crush on her phone the entire evening. She was there with two friends, who seemed more interested in the music than she was…but they did not ask her to stop. I am reminded how, some years ago, the actor and playwright Wallace Shawn got in trouble at a Carnegie Hall concert for yelling at another audience member for behaving badly. Perhaps we should have been celebrating Mr. Shawn instead.

~ Ben Weaver

November 20, 2023
The Tucker Gala @ Carnegie Hall 2023

Above, the artists take a bow at the end of the 2023 Tucker Gala: Sean Michael Plumb, Liv Redpath, Stephen Costello, Howard Watkins, Federica Lombardi, Ben Bliss, Bryan Wagorn, Angela Meade, Quinn Kelsey, Ailyn Pérez, and Soloman Howard. Photo by Dario Acosta.

Author: Oberon

Sunday October 29th, 2023 – The annual Richard Tucker Foundation gala took place this evening at Carnegie Hall. Barry Tucker, son of the illustrious tenor, greeted us and explained that financial considerations had compelled the Foundation to present this year’s concert without an orchestra. But soon after the program began, concerns about the lack of an orchestra were assuaged by the excellence of the two pianists who took turns at the Steinway: Bryan Wagorn and Howard Watkins. Bravo, bravo, bravo gentlemen!

Of the announced roster of artists, Angel Blue, Matthew Polenzani, and Christian van Horn had withdrawn, and basso Soloman Howard joined the line-up on short notice.

The program opened with Sean Michael Plumb, a 2022 Tucker Career Grant recipient, giving an excellent rendering of Figaro’s “Largo al factotum“, with Howard Watkins at the keyboard providing brilliant support. Mr. Plumb’s voice, wide-ranging and handsome of timbre, sounded great in the great Hall.

Bryan Wagorn played beautifully the Catalani aria “Ebben, ne andro lontana” from LA WALLY, sung by Angela Meade. The pervasive flutter of the Meade voice has never been to my liking, but this aria suited her far better than some of the roles she has sung at The Met. She sang passionately, summoning some chesty resonances; the singing was mostly unrelentingly loud, missing the nuances that can make the aria so personal. She was very much an audience favorite, both here and – later – in a duet from TROVATORE.

Soloman Howard, a tall and charismatic basso, offered Fiesco’s great aria “Il lacerato spirito” from Verdi’s SIMON BOCCANEGRA. His singing was powerful: an emotion-ladened outpouring of a father’s despair which becomes poignantly reflective at “Il serto a lei de’ martiri pietoso il cielo diè…”; so engaged was Mr. Howard in the character that one could almost hear the chanting of the mourners from the chapel, even though no chorus was present. The moving final descent at “Prega, Maria, per me…” was heart-breaking in its expressiveness. And Mr. Wagorn at the piano captured the music’s atmosphere to perfection.

New to me, soprano Liv Redpath looked fetching in a ruffled black frock. Rather than the announced Act I aria from LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR, Ms. Redpath intrigued us with a sterling performance of Ophélie’s mad scene from Ambroise Thomas’s HAMLET. Assured of technique, with a lovely array of pastels in her colour palette – as well as a silvery, limpid quality to her coloratura – the comely soprano had the Carnegie crowd fully engaged. Mr. Watkins at the piano created the scene’s atmosphere from note one.

Bringing his lovely timbre and engaging style to the Duke of Mantua’s aria “Parmi veder le lagrime” was the tall, slender tenor Ben Bliss. A Mozart specialist, Ben always manages to combine passion and elegance in his singing. Mr. Watkins was again perfect, setting a properly impatient pace for the cabaletta, “Possente amor mi chiama” (‘A powerful love calls me!’).

The tall and striking Italian soprano Federica Lombardi, who has won a lot of hearts at The Met with her superb singing of Mozart’s Contessa Almaviva, Elettra, and Donna Anna, tonight offered a spellbinding performance of Anna Bolena’s mad scene from the Donizetti opera. Clad in an elegant blue gown, the soprano looked queenly indeed, and her long arms and expressive hands seemed to shape the music to touching effect. Following a ravishing “Al dolce guidami“, she sang a single verse of the cabaletta “Coppia iniqua!” which was taken a bit too fast and which really needs both verses (and the chorus’s interjections) to be really meaningful. Nevertheless, the overall effect of Ms. Lombardi’s performance was fascinating.

The next two selections were thrilling: Quinn Kelsey’s sustained, gorgeously phrased singing of Macbeth’s “Pieta, rispetta, amore” is everything you want from a Verdi baritone. The voice is huge, warm, and awash with a sense of the human spirit: singing that simply reduced me to tears.

Stephen Costello followed Mr. Kelsey with a magnificent rendering of the haunting aria “Deserto in terra” from Donizetti’s DON SEBASTIANO. In this aria, Don Sebastiano, king of Portugal, stands alone on a battlefield strewn with corpses and longs for the consolation of his beloved. Mr. Costello’s depth of feeling, his passion, and his poignantly styled phrasing went straight to my heart, and his top notes were amazingly clear and sustained. Luciano Pavarotti and John Osborn have given us glorious voicings of this aria, and Mr. Costello’s can stand proudly alongside them.

More Donizetti, on a cheerier note, brought us Ms. Redpath and Mr. Plumb in the charming duet of Norina and Dr. Malatesta from DON PASQUALE. They sang it beautifully, not over-doing the comic effects.

Ailyn Pérez sang Butterly’s “Un bel di” most attractively, though for me it is an aria that doesn’t work very well in concert, being too narrative. Ms. Pérez produced some silky piano moments, exploring the character’s vulnerability beneath her steadfast belief in her husband’s return. The soprano’s gown was something else.

Ms. Lombardi and Mr. Bliss made a very attractive couple – both physically and vocally – in the duet “Parigi o cara” from TRAVIATA. They are well matched in height, and they established an instant rapport, their timbres blending to perfection, their ardent phrasing so savourable. Bravi! Could we have them together in the Met’s next TRAVIATA revival?

Ms. Meade and Mr. Kelsey gave a full-tilt performance of the Leonora/Di Luna duet from TROVATORE…

…and then Mr. Costello (stepping in for the absent Matthew Polenzani) and Sean Michael Plumb sang the affecting, brotherly duet “Au fond du temple saint” from LES PECHEURS DES PERLES with its heartfelt harmonies. The two brought poetic ardor to their singing, their timbres entwining persuasively. They embraced at the end.

There were encores: Ms. Lombardi in a zarzuela aria which was a bit too long, though finely sung, and Mr. Bliss in a song that was too small-scaled for the big space. Ms. Pérez gave a sensual touch to Manuel Ponce’s “Estrillita“, with some ravishing pianissimi. Mr. Kelsey and Mr. Costello added further laurels to their vocal triumphs earlier in the evening, the baritone with a mind-bogglingly perfect “If ever I would leave you” from CAMELOT, and Mr. Costello pouring out his heart and soul in a thrilling “Core ‘ngrato“.

All photos by Dario Acosta, courtesy of the Richard Tucker Foundation.

~ Oberon

October 29, 2023
An Evening of Trios @ Carnegie Hall

Performance photo by Chris Lee, courtesy of Carnegie Hall

~ Author: Oberon

Tuesday October 24th, 2023 – Three beloved luminaries of the classical music world joined forces on the Carnegie Hall stage tonight, playing trios by Haydn, Ravel, and Mendelssohn. Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, violinist Lisa Batiashvili, and cellist Gautier Capuçon took the stage to a warm welcome from the crowd.

I’m sure the two gentlemen will forgive me if I mention my particular affection for Ms. Batiashvili; I became familiar with her artistry thru her appearances with the New York Philharmonic during Alan Gilbert’s tenure. Violinist and maestro formed a particularly cordial musical relationship; their rapport was as lovely to watch as to hear. Tonight, it was wonderful to see Lisa on the Carnegie Hall stage, looking elegant in a black trouser number with black stilettos.

The opening Allegro moderato of the Haydn E-major Trio commences with a plucked motif, which will recur at times as the movement goes forward. In the cantabile passages, the sweetness of Ms. Batashvili’s tone was finely meshed with the mellow lyricism of the Capuçon cello, whilst M. Thibaudet at the Steinway produces silvery cascades of notes.

The Allegretto opens with a rather somber unison passages, and then M. Thibaudet begins a long piano solo, with appealing commenting phrases from the violin and cello. Some vivid flourishes near the movement’s end carry us on to the final cadence.

The trio’s final Allegro has a gently bustling feeling, with the players bringing lovely subtleties to the music. A darkish, minor-key interlude develops into a tempest, and the movement then takes a da capo before reaching a coda with retards and pauses etched in. Beautiful blends of timbres, and a sense of camaraderie among the artists that was lovely to observe.

The players rose for a bow, and then immediately sat down to play Maurice Ravel’s Piano Trio.

M. Thibaudet’s delicate piano introduction to the opening Modéré creates a sense of mystery. The strings join, and the music develops a gentle sway. Cello and violin exchange brief melodic sentences, and the music grows passionate. Then Ms. Batiashvili spins out exquisite phrases in the violin’s highest range; following an agitato interruption. The music turns dreamy.

Ravel titles the second movement Pantoum, which refers to a Malaysian form of poetry. It is sprightly and dancelike, with the strings conversing. There are some stormy bits, and then an acceleration. M. Thibaudet opens the third movement, Passacaille, with a low, simple theme. M. Capuçon joins, with a hauntingly deep, rather mournful melody, and Ms. Batiashvili brings her magic to a ravishing solo. Passion waxes and wanes, with the music becoming dense and darkish; things quieten for a sustained cello solo, richly played. The piano brings the movement to a close.

The last movement of the Ravel is an Allegro appassionato. It has a high, airy start, luminously played from our trio. The music gets grand. Ms. Batiashvili executes a sustained trill, to which M. Capuçon replies with a trill of his own. At the Steinway, M. Thibaudet’s technical wizardry is on display. The music rushes on, restless…and dazzling.

The Mendelssohn piano trios are the first chamber works I fell in love with, and while the first of the two is my favorite, I am always very pleased to hear either of them played live. Tonight, it was the second that was on offer, played to perfection.

The C-minor Piano Trio finds Mendelssohn at his passionate, rhapsodic finest. The pianist immediately sets the tone with an unsettled opening theme; a second theme – song-like and fervent – takes over, played first by the violin and cello with the piano accompanying. M. Thibaudet is simply marvelous here, and the ebb and flow of the familiar melodies gave a feeling of reassurance.

The piano opens the ensuing Andante, lending a feeling of peace. Violin and cello harmonize with extraordinary beauty of tone, creating a wistful mood. Next comes a true Mendelssohnian delight: a jittery, scrambling Scherzo, to which the players brought pristine technique and spine-tingling nuances. The trio’s finale veers from between minor and major modes, with mood swings shifting from agitated to tranquil. Here the perfect blending of the three voices was at its most savourable.

The audience, one of the most attentive and alert in recent seasons, cheered heartily as the musicians took their bows. An encore was demanded: the Vivace from Dvořák’s Piano Trio in E-minor, Opus 90. The music has a gypsy lilt and featured a long solo for Ms. Batiashvili, a remarkably sustained tremelo from M. Capuçon, and an array of delights from M. Thibaudet.

After a couple of weeks of my feeling out-of-sorts, this concert provided a miracle cure. Thank you, Lisa, Jean-Yves, and Gautier!!

Heading out for a bow; photo by Chris Lee

Photo by Chris Lee, courtesy of Carnegie Hall

~ Oberon

October 24, 2023
Philadelphia Orchestra ~ Rachmaninov/Higdon

Above: Sergei Rachmaninov

~ Author: Ben Weaver

Tuesday October 17th, 2023 – The Philadelphia Orchestra was Sergei Rachmaninov’s favorite orchestra. He not only composed multiple works which they premiered, but it was the orchestra he chose to record his symphonies and piano concertos with. And, through the decades, the Philadelphians have played Rachmaninov as well as anyone and better than most.

The orchestra’s current artistic director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, has already recorded Rachmaninov’s complete symphonies and piano concertos (with Daniil Trifonov as soloist) and is continuing his presentation of the works at Carnegie Hall. (In a one-time-only mega event, pianist Yuja Wang and the combination of maestro Nézet-Séguin and Philadelphia Orchestra performed all the piano iano Concertos and the Rhapsody on the Theme of Paganini at Carnegie Hall in a single memorable concert last season.) On October 17th Nézet-Séguin presented a marvelous evening of two of Rachmaninov’s audience favorite works: the Symphonic Dances and Symphony No. 2.

Rachmaninov composed the Symphonic Dances in 1940 and the Philadelphia Orchestra and Eugene Ormandy premiered it in January of 1941. Apparently Ormandy was not very fond of the work, though he did perform it frequently and record it more than once.

The first dance opens with a three-note staccato motif, dark – even sinister – in tone, and it remains the driving rhythmic force throughout the movement. An alto saxophone plays a memorable role during the quieter moments (alas the wonderful player is not specified in the Playbill.) Rachmaninov ends the movement with a modified quote from his First Symphony, a work that had been lost 40 years earlier, so he knew nobody would have any idea what they were hearing. (The score was fortunately discovered again, but after Rachmaninov died, so he did not get an opportunity to hear it again after it’s catastrophic premiere led to his composers’ block.) Maestro Nézet-Séguin took a hard-driven, very steady, and deliberate pacing in the beginning of the work, speeding up considerably when the opening theme returned later in the movement.

The second dance is a stilted Waltz that I always thought of a cousin to Ravel’s La Valse. The compositions share an odd limping rhythm, the wistful minor key melodies swirling like aged ballerinas remembering happier days. Perhaps Nézet-Séguin lingered a little too much occasionally here, but always recovered the pulse of the work. The final dance, with its heavy reliance on the Dies Irae (a theme Rachmaninov used in many of his works) fights against a quotation from Rachmaninov’s own All-night Vigil Vespers, as light tries to conquer darkness. It seems the heavens win (Rachmaninov even scribbled “Hallelujah” in the score.) The Philadelphia Orchestra and Nézet-Séguin dazzled all the way through.

The Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27 is, along with his Piano Concerto No. 2, Rachmaninov’s most beloved work and oft-performed work. A gigantic, lush, deeply Romantic and melodic work was a hit from its premiere (conducted by Rachmaninov himself in St. Petersburg in 1908; the US premiere took place just one year later in – where else – Philadelphia under the composer’s baton.) Maestro Nézet-Séguin’s interpretation was magnificent, sometimes even revelatory. The tumultuous climax of the first movement, with its howling brass, for the first time reminded me of Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique Symphony. The magnificent Adagio movement – with a ravishing melody everyone recognizes – contains a tremendous extensive solo for the clarinet, played by principal clarinetist Ricardo Morales with incredible beauty and tenderness that made you lean forward. The final Allegro vivace movement was a high voltage thrill ride which the orchestra dispatched with effortless aplomb.

I must acknowledge that the concert opened with a performance of Jennifer Higdon’s Fanfare Ritmico, a brief 1999 piece I occasionally thought may have resembled John Adams’ “Short Ride in a Fast Machine.” But the resemblances were fleeting even if they existed. My red flags went up when I looked at the list of instruments used in this 6 minute piece and it contains, as so many contemporary works do, every imaginable percussion instrument there is. Perhaps 2/3 of the instruments listed were percussive. I suppose to Higdon’s credit she does not use them all at once (something others do and never to anybody’s benefit). But she does fall into the same trap countless contemporary composers do where being unable to transition from one theme to another, the easiest path is to have somebody hit something. And so things kept getting hit. When it ended I said to my companion: “Well, whatever that was, they played it very well.”

~ Ben Weaver

October 20, 2023