New York City Noir

German Music at Carnegie Hall

On consecutive Saturday evenings, the two greatest German orchestras recently performed at Carnegie Hall. It presented a rare opportunity to contrast the styles of these two cultural bastions, all the more so as they both presented programs of all-German music.

On February 25th, the Berlin Philharmonic under Simon Rattle began with two lieder by Hugo Wolf for chorus and orchestra and a third that added a soprano, Camilla Tilling. I found all three pieces fascinating, and would have even if for no other reason than that they allowed me to hear the talented Westminster Choir perform a type of music (lieder) with which I had never before associated them.

In the second half, the orchestra gave its own interpretation of Mahler's Second, the Resurrection, a symphony which has always sounded a deep personal resonance within me. The very first time I heard any of Mahler's music was when, at the New York Philharmonic in the mid 1980's, Leonard Bernstein filled in on short notice for an ailing conductor, tossed the original program, and instead launched the orchestra into the Second's opening movement. Overall, I thought the Berlin Philharmonic's performance with Rattle conducting, if it did not quite live up to Bernstein's bravura interpretation, was much more nuanced than many I've heard over the years and yet still powerfully expressive.

Yesterday evening, I heard the Vienna Philharmonic with Loren Maazel, that indefatigable warhorse, conducting once again, beginning with Mozart's next to last symphony, the magnificent #40 in G minor, followed by a nearly 80 minute suite, assembled by Maazel, of orchestral music from Wagner's Ring. Although nothing can match the power of the fully staged, four-evening Ring Cycle, this particular condensation was as effective as any. And hearing the great Vienna Philharmonic play Siegfried's Funeral March and the finale to Gotterdammerung had an overwhelming effect on me.

 

2011 - 2012 Classical Music Season

 
As this is primarily a photo blog and as cameras are not allowed inside Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, I don't usually write about the music I go to hear, although it is actually a big part of my life.  But I expect the coming season to be especially exciting.

At Carnegie Hall, I have tickets to Simon Rattle conducting the Berlin Philharmonic performing Mahler's Second (The Resurrection), the Vienna Philharmonic performing an orchestral suite from Wagner's Ring, and a recital by Lang Lang that includes a Schubert sonata.  Opening night will feature YoYo Ma performing Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme with the Marinsky Orchestra. 

At the Met Opera, I will be seeing four operas, three of which are new productions -- Don Giovanni, Faust and Anna Bolena. 

The New York Philharmonic will again be featuring chamber music in its Saturday matinee series.  This season, those pieces will all be by Schubert, including the Piano Quintet in A (The Trout) and the String Quintet in C.  I'll also hear Pinchas Zuckerman perform Mozart's Third Violin Concerto as soloist with the Philharmonic. 

And finally, at Alice Tully, the Emerson String Quartet will be performing late Mozart and Beethoven quartets as well as the latter's Grosse Fuge.

I can't ask for much more than that.

Around NYC: Gewandhaus at Carnegie Hall

It was an enjoyable evening, not great though.

Nikolaj Znaider was the soloist on the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto and performed well on the sarabande from Bach's Partita #2 that he gave as an encore.

For my taste, the Dvorak #9 in the second half was too loud and strident.  The same approach, though, worked better for Beethoven's Lenore #3 Overture which opened the program.

Around NYC: Beethoven at Carnegie Hall

In the past two weeks, I've seen two excellent performances of Beethoven symphonies in two extremely different styles.

On January 15th, I saw Daniel Barenboim conduct Beethoven's 6th, the Pastorale.  Although Barenboim has never been either my favorite conductor or pianist, I have to give him a lot of credit here.  His was the classic approach, nuanced and unrushed, and it worked perfectly.  At intermission, I heard favorable comparisons to Otto Klemperer, known for his slow tempos.   It was flawless performance by the Vienna Philharmonic.  And they showed again, after intermission, what an awe inspiring orchestra they were with Wagner's Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan. 

On January 24th, I saw James Levine conduct the Met Opera Orchestra in a performance of Beethoven's 5th.  It was actually the last piece in a very long concert -- 2 1/2 hours including intermission -- that started strongly with Schubert's 8th, the Unfinished, and continued with lieder and an aria by R. Strauss.  The soprano, Diana Damrau, was excellent and called back for an encore, a second aria from Ariadne auf Naxos.  Levine's conducting of the 5th was crisp and totally controlled.  As far as I could tell, he was working with the original metronome markings.  The fast tempo gave the work an explosive character.  Despite the total length of the concert, it's safe to say no one fell asleep during that piece.

On February 21st I'm going to Carnegie Hall again to see Roger Norrington conduct Beethoven's 9th, the Ode to Joy, with St. Luke's Orchestra.  I vividly remember Norrington's performance of Beethoven's 3rd, the Eroica, with this same orchestra in early 1987.  It too was played at the original metronome markings and was so idiosyncratic that it was almost as if there were the sound of fireworks.  I'm really intrigued to hear Norrington's interpretation of the 9th.

Muti conducts the NY Philharmonic

I wouldn’t normally write about my interest in classical music, but Scriabin is such an overlooked composer and performances of his music so rare that I can’t help mentioning Muti’s great conducting at the NY Philharmonic Saturday evening.  He may be controversial in his dealings with some orchestras, as at La Scala, but he does have flare and brilliance.  The Poem of Ecstasy is one of Muti’s specialties and orchestra’s execution was flawless.  The piece itself could be described as symphonic psychedelia.  There was a great quote in the program notes from1960 when Henry Miller wrote in Nexus:

Scriabin’s music sounds like I think – sometimes.  Has that far-off cosmic itch.  Divinely fouled up.  All fire and air.  The first time I heard it I played it over and over.  Couldn’t shut it off.  It was like a bath of ice, cocaine, and rainbows.  For weeks I went about in a trance.  Something had happened to me.