Above: Violinist Gil Shaham
~ Author: Scoresby
Friday August 18th, 2017 – After a month of recovering from an illness, I was happy to be able hear live music performed by the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra in David Geffen Hall led by its music director Louis Langrée with guest violinist Gil Shaham. A month is the longest I’ve gone without hearing live music in years, so it felt like the ultimate psychological panacea to attend. While I have regularly attended the chamber music performances, A Little Night Music, and contemporary music concerts, I hadn’t heard the Festival Orchestra since 2014. I was glad to be able to attend the penultimate Festival Orchestra concert of the season.
Above: Louis Langrée
The first piece on the program was the bubbly Prokofiev Symphony No. 1 in D major (“Classical”). The only other time I have heard this piece played live was, coincidentally, also the last time I heard the Festival Orchestra. This evening Mr. Langrée led a taut, lean performance. During the dance-like opening movement, the strings sounded bouncy and light. The low woodwinds provided a warm sheen, even in the most ominous undercurrents of the piece. Mr. Langrée’s sense of balance allowed the bassoon’s counterpoint to easily pop. While certainly an energetic account, none of the structural detailing was missed.
During the Larghetto, the bassoons and clarinets took the spotlight, providing entertainment combined with artistry. For those who haven’t been to Mostly Mozart before, the stage of David Geffen is modified to allow riser seating in the back of the orchestra by moving up the stage to what would be the first few rows of the hall. This pushes the orchestra significantly closer to audience and creates a much more intimate environment.
Mr. Langrée takes full advantage of this intimacy by using far quieter dynamics than could ever be used during the normal season’s setup – it feels as if the orchestra is thrust into the audience. The orchestral detailing in the second movement was superb through even the quietest of moments. While this makes the music sound more nuanced and detailed, it feels as if the noises from the crowd are too. Throughout the performance I heard many more pings of hearing aids, coughs, and wrappers of food than I hear during the regular season. However, I am happy to take that trade-off if it makes the music-making substantially more interesting as it did here. In the third and fourth movements, the orchestra kept its momentum and finished to a crowd that roared, obviously excited over the energy of the musicians.
The second piece on the program was Mozart Symphony No. 25 G minor, K. 183 (one of few Mozart symphonies in the minor key). I’ve never been the biggest fan of the piece, but it was still a pleasure to hear it live in such an intimate space. While at times I felt the orchestra sounded a little muddy through the first movement, every time there was a canonic section Mr. Langrée confidently led transparent and thoughtful introductions for each instrument.
These structured sections sounded just as buoyant as the Prokofiev. While a welcome change in dynamics, some of the rhythms and accents in the Andante felt over-accentuated to my ear. Nonetheless, one could hear every instrument clearly singing its line. The trio of the third movement brought another warm passage with the bright woodwinds followed by an incisive final movement.
After the intermission, the crowd seemed to be buzzing to hear the final piece on the program: the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D major played by violinist Gil Shaham. I’ve never been a fan of this piece, but here it was played in a refreshing way that would make want to listen again. Mr. Shaham took an understated approach to the first movement (at least as much as is possible for a virtuosic warhorse), languishing in the phrasing of lines.
Again, because of the setup of the lean orchestra and intimacy of the venue, there was no need to play loud. Thus he was able to bring a supple legato phrasing that never sounded harsh. After a measured performance of the cadenza by Mr. Shaham, the principal flautist Jasmine Choi gave one of the clearest and mellowest solos I’ve heard for that section of the piece. Mr. Shaham seemed more effective in the second movement, managing to illicit a rounder, ghostly tone during the introduction. The orchestra responded, with the clarinet’s extensive accompaniment matching the misty mood.
Throughout the piece Mr. Shaham seemed to play for the musicians rather than for the audience – the whole experience seemed have more of a chamber music feel than that of a virtuosic concerto. The orchestral musicians and Mr. Langrée were smiling from start to finish and it was a joy to watch them exchange phrases with Mr. Shaham. While perhaps not the most technical or dazzling performance of this piece, witnessing and feeling that rare warmth between the artists is something that can only be experienced in a live performance.
During the final movement, Mr. Shaham dispatched the technical sections with ease and the crowd gave him a roaring ovation. He played as an encore the third movement of the third E-major Bach Partita. While charming, to me the highlight of the concert was witnessing intimate collaborative music-making that is rare to see in an orchestra.
~ Scoresby
Oberon's Glade 