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Inspiration sans charisma
Orchestra's two flute concertos
Dan Rottenberg
The old reliable Charles Dutoit, charged with holding the fort until Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes command in 2012, missed last weekend's Philadelphia orchestra concerts due to illness and had to be replaced at the last minute by the capable if uncharismatic Robert Spano of the Atlanta Symphony.
No matter: The Orchestra's principal flutist, Jeffrey Khaner, provided the necessary star power by performing premieres of two flute concertos, one of them nearly 400 years old. For Vivaldi's brief and jaunty Flute Concerto in D Minor, composed about 1730 but discovered only recently in Scotland, the Orchestra reconstituted itself as the much smaller chamber orchestra for which Vivaldi would have written.
Jonathan Leshnoff's Flute Concerto, unlike many modern works, was deliberately tonal and easily accessible, especially in its peppy and uplifting final movement. The musicians seemed to get into it, especially my favorite weather vane, the cellist Yumi Kendall, who invariably wears her feelings on her grinning face. (Full disclosure: Leshnoff's parents are friends of mine.)
Throw in Strauss's heroic Ein Heldenleben, which consumed the second half, and you had a program of discovery and stimulation, notwithstanding its absence of big names.
No matter: The Orchestra's principal flutist, Jeffrey Khaner, provided the necessary star power by performing premieres of two flute concertos, one of them nearly 400 years old. For Vivaldi's brief and jaunty Flute Concerto in D Minor, composed about 1730 but discovered only recently in Scotland, the Orchestra reconstituted itself as the much smaller chamber orchestra for which Vivaldi would have written.
Jonathan Leshnoff's Flute Concerto, unlike many modern works, was deliberately tonal and easily accessible, especially in its peppy and uplifting final movement. The musicians seemed to get into it, especially my favorite weather vane, the cellist Yumi Kendall, who invariably wears her feelings on her grinning face. (Full disclosure: Leshnoff's parents are friends of mine.)
Throw in Strauss's heroic Ein Heldenleben, which consumed the second half, and you had a program of discovery and stimulation, notwithstanding its absence of big names.
What, When, Where
Philadelphia Orchestra: Ravel, Pavane pour une infante défunte; Vivaldi, Flute Concerto in D Minor (“Il Gran Mogolâ€); Leshnoff, Flute Concerto; Richard Strauss, Ein Heldenleben. Jeffrey Khaner, flute; Robert Spano, conductor. March 4-8, 2011 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center, Broad and Spruce Sts. (215) 993-1999 or www.philorch.org.
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