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Dutoit's first hint of things to come
Philadelphia Orchestra's concerto feast
Tom Purdom
The first three Philadelphia Orchestra programs under Charles Dutoit’s tenure (with Rossen Milanov leading the first) suggested we have more to look forward to than the Berlioz epics and French Impressionist pieces that Dutoit emphasized in his pre-season remarks. The three concerts included a stunning performance of the Sibelius First Symphony along with satisfying readings of Pictures at an Exhibition and the 1954 Concerto for Orchestra of Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski, with the latter led by Milanov.
The big winners at all three events, however, were the concertos. These ranged in time from Haydn to the first year of our new century, and none of them could be accused of sounding over-familiar.
The charmer in the group was the Haydn conducted by Milanov at the first concert. Haydn’s Sinfonia concertante teams the orchestra with a peculiar quartet: violin, bassoon, cello and oboe. Half the charm came from Haydn’s lighthearted approach to the music, and half came from the sight of four of the Orchestra’s leading members interacting like a chamber group in front of the musical backdrop created by their colleagues. Associate concertmaster Juliette Kang got to show her stuff in the lyrical, dancing second movement, and principal cellist Ha-Ye Ni and principal oboist Richard Woodhams had their moments, too. And how many times do we get to see the Orchestra’s principal bassoonist, Daniel Matsukawa, take a turn on the front of the stage?
Banging when appropriate
At the second concert, pianist Martha Argerich pulled the audience out of its seats with a bravura performance of a bravura piece. Prokofiev’s 1912 First Piano Concerto calls for 16 minutes of pell-mell finger work, interrupted by a nostalgic reverie in the second movement, and Argerich attacked it with a ringing tone and an uninhibited willingness to bang when banging is clearly appropriate. Then she returned after the intermission (allowing time for the piano to be retuned) and opened the second half with an equally demanding companion piece, the First Piano Concerto penned by Prokofiev’s younger colleague, Dmitri Shostakovich, in 1933.
The Shostakovich contains passages that are just as rousing as the Prokofiev, but it spans a broader emotional range, with some deeper, gentler moods and an early example of Shostakovich’s talent for creating moving elegies. The addition of the solo trumpet played by principal trumpet David Bilger adds more nuances and a suggestion of smoky 1930s nightclubs. Argerich and Bilger played on all its possibilities and earned another standing ovation.
Penderecki’s throwback to the Baroque
For the third concert, Dutoit led a work he had conducted at its premier. Krzysztof Penderecki's Concerto Grosso No. 1 was commissioned by Japan's NHK Symphony Orchestra, and one of the soloists at this performance, Han-Na
Chang, worked with Dutoit at the original performance in Tokyo in 2001.
Like the Haydn, Penderecki’s concerto is a throwback to the Baroque concerto grosso— a form in which a few soloists play against a larger orchestra. For his 21st-Century update, Penderecki equipped himself with all the possibilities inherent in the modern orchestra and a solo group composed of three modern cellos.
But of course the composer must also possess the imagination to perceive the possibilities and transform them into music. Penderecki’s concerto is loaded with good writing for the orchestra and all three soloists alike, with passages such as a striking march for massed cellos and basses, counterpointed by furious breaks for the solo instruments. It ends with cadenzas for all three soloists, followed by a long, beautiful trio played over a subdued orchestra.
The cello has one of the loveliest voices in the orchestra, and Penderecki treated it with the knowing touch of a composer who likes it so much that a cello competition was actually named for him. For this performance, in addition, the score received the benefit of three soloists with exceptionally big tones.
Penderecki’s concerto has received 80 performances since its premiere in 2001. It’s supposed to receive 35 more during the coming month, as orchestras all over the world celebrate Penderecki’s 75th birthday. It’s clearly destined to become one of the best-loved musical poems of our new century.
Now, about those TV screens…
The setup for the third concert included two TV screens on the first tier, behind the orchestra. The last time the Orchestra did this, during a Yo Yo Ma concert at the Academy, I felt it was a distraction that added nothing to the performance. This time my reactions were less clear-cut. The screens were larger, for one thing, and the cameras were directed by someone who understood the scores and directed your attention to the sections of the orchestra highlighted by the composer. You could also watch bits, like a glockenspiel solo, that are normally hidden in the back of the orchestra.
My negative feelings stemmed, I think, from the fact that I now spend much of my life staring at a screen. When I go to a concert, I’m surrounded by real, 3-D people in a real-life environment where things that are farther away look smaller than things that are closer. The TV screens diluted that experience. I still heard sounds that bounced off real walls and real people, unfiltered by electronics; but my attention was enticed, once again, to a flat substitute for reality built on the illusion created by millions of pixels.
The big winners at all three events, however, were the concertos. These ranged in time from Haydn to the first year of our new century, and none of them could be accused of sounding over-familiar.
The charmer in the group was the Haydn conducted by Milanov at the first concert. Haydn’s Sinfonia concertante teams the orchestra with a peculiar quartet: violin, bassoon, cello and oboe. Half the charm came from Haydn’s lighthearted approach to the music, and half came from the sight of four of the Orchestra’s leading members interacting like a chamber group in front of the musical backdrop created by their colleagues. Associate concertmaster Juliette Kang got to show her stuff in the lyrical, dancing second movement, and principal cellist Ha-Ye Ni and principal oboist Richard Woodhams had their moments, too. And how many times do we get to see the Orchestra’s principal bassoonist, Daniel Matsukawa, take a turn on the front of the stage?
Banging when appropriate
At the second concert, pianist Martha Argerich pulled the audience out of its seats with a bravura performance of a bravura piece. Prokofiev’s 1912 First Piano Concerto calls for 16 minutes of pell-mell finger work, interrupted by a nostalgic reverie in the second movement, and Argerich attacked it with a ringing tone and an uninhibited willingness to bang when banging is clearly appropriate. Then she returned after the intermission (allowing time for the piano to be retuned) and opened the second half with an equally demanding companion piece, the First Piano Concerto penned by Prokofiev’s younger colleague, Dmitri Shostakovich, in 1933.
The Shostakovich contains passages that are just as rousing as the Prokofiev, but it spans a broader emotional range, with some deeper, gentler moods and an early example of Shostakovich’s talent for creating moving elegies. The addition of the solo trumpet played by principal trumpet David Bilger adds more nuances and a suggestion of smoky 1930s nightclubs. Argerich and Bilger played on all its possibilities and earned another standing ovation.
Penderecki’s throwback to the Baroque
For the third concert, Dutoit led a work he had conducted at its premier. Krzysztof Penderecki's Concerto Grosso No. 1 was commissioned by Japan's NHK Symphony Orchestra, and one of the soloists at this performance, Han-Na
Chang, worked with Dutoit at the original performance in Tokyo in 2001.
Like the Haydn, Penderecki’s concerto is a throwback to the Baroque concerto grosso— a form in which a few soloists play against a larger orchestra. For his 21st-Century update, Penderecki equipped himself with all the possibilities inherent in the modern orchestra and a solo group composed of three modern cellos.
But of course the composer must also possess the imagination to perceive the possibilities and transform them into music. Penderecki’s concerto is loaded with good writing for the orchestra and all three soloists alike, with passages such as a striking march for massed cellos and basses, counterpointed by furious breaks for the solo instruments. It ends with cadenzas for all three soloists, followed by a long, beautiful trio played over a subdued orchestra.
The cello has one of the loveliest voices in the orchestra, and Penderecki treated it with the knowing touch of a composer who likes it so much that a cello competition was actually named for him. For this performance, in addition, the score received the benefit of three soloists with exceptionally big tones.
Penderecki’s concerto has received 80 performances since its premiere in 2001. It’s supposed to receive 35 more during the coming month, as orchestras all over the world celebrate Penderecki’s 75th birthday. It’s clearly destined to become one of the best-loved musical poems of our new century.
Now, about those TV screens…
The setup for the third concert included two TV screens on the first tier, behind the orchestra. The last time the Orchestra did this, during a Yo Yo Ma concert at the Academy, I felt it was a distraction that added nothing to the performance. This time my reactions were less clear-cut. The screens were larger, for one thing, and the cameras were directed by someone who understood the scores and directed your attention to the sections of the orchestra highlighted by the composer. You could also watch bits, like a glockenspiel solo, that are normally hidden in the back of the orchestra.
My negative feelings stemmed, I think, from the fact that I now spend much of my life staring at a screen. When I go to a concert, I’m surrounded by real, 3-D people in a real-life environment where things that are farther away look smaller than things that are closer. The TV screens diluted that experience. I still heard sounds that bounced off real walls and real people, unfiltered by electronics; but my attention was enticed, once again, to a flat substitute for reality built on the illusion created by millions of pixels.
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