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Yannick and Sawallisch: Across the great divide
Philadelphia Orchestra's season finale (2nd review)
Tom Purdom
Yannick Nézet-Séguin finished his first season as the Philadelphia Orchestra's music director with an appropriately festive fireworks display. His reading of DvoÅ™ák's Slavonic Dances may have been louder and faster than a sophisticated listener would have liked, but a touch of excessive exuberance suited the occasion.
Besides, the Orchestra played the DvoÅ™ák at the tail end of a concert that provided some depth along with the pyrotechnics.
Most of the depth came from the evening's centerpiece, the Brahms Violin Concerto. In the first two movements, Yannick and guest soloist Gil Shaham captured the combination of poignancy and sagely contentment that characterizes many of Brahms's best moments.
For me, Brahms is a musical equivalent of those painters who can evoke intense, half-understood emotional responses by capturing the exact slant of light on the side of a building: You may not know what you're feeling, but you know you're feeling something important.
Tribute to Sawallisch
The Adagio from Schumann's Second Symphony provided the other source of depth. Although the entire concert was dedicated to the Orchestra's late music director, Wolfgang Sawallisch, the Schumann was the program's most ceremonial tribute. Its gentle somberness suited the memory of a conductor whom concertmaster David Kim described as an "understated" man who "never drew attention to himself."
The other rouser on the program followed the Schumann. JanáÄek's Sinfonietta is scored for an oversized orchestra (despite its title) and opens with a fanfare for 14 trumpets.
Both the JanáÄek and the DvoÅ™ák are loaded with electrifying moments, but they also require a conductor who is sensitive to tone colors and interesting contrasts. The opening flourish in the JanáÄek may evoke an irresistible thrill, but the piece would become a bore without a conductor who can handle more restrained moments like the passage in which a piccolo floats over the rumble of the cellos. Yannick proved, once again, that he's capable of commanding both ends of the spectrum.
The concert's major weakness was the decision to play the Schumann with the same oversize orchestra that JanáÄek specified for his Sinfonietta. The passages in which Schumann massed the full force of the orchestra sounded labored. Much as I love the cello, it's possible to have too many.
Changing city, changing tastes
Sawallisch, who died in February at the age of 89, was the last conductor in a line of Old World Philadelphia Orchestra conductors that began in 1912 with Leopold Stokowski. That line took root in a time when Philadelphia was a growing, thriving city and American cultural and intellectual leaders perceived European orchestral music as the top level of a musical hierarchy.
Today we live in a time when the Orchestra must cope with the financial headaches of a shrunken city as well as a society whose cultural leaders respect popular music fads as much as the Classical tradition.
For those of us who already love the Classical tradition, Sawallisch's understated personality inspired affection, and his work on the podium generated memories that we can treasure for the rest of our lives. The new era requires a music director who can excite newcomers without cheapening or corrupting the tradition he is supposed to preserve. So far, Yannick seems to be the right man for the job.♦
To read another review by Steve Cohen, click here.
Besides, the Orchestra played the DvoÅ™ák at the tail end of a concert that provided some depth along with the pyrotechnics.
Most of the depth came from the evening's centerpiece, the Brahms Violin Concerto. In the first two movements, Yannick and guest soloist Gil Shaham captured the combination of poignancy and sagely contentment that characterizes many of Brahms's best moments.
For me, Brahms is a musical equivalent of those painters who can evoke intense, half-understood emotional responses by capturing the exact slant of light on the side of a building: You may not know what you're feeling, but you know you're feeling something important.
Tribute to Sawallisch
The Adagio from Schumann's Second Symphony provided the other source of depth. Although the entire concert was dedicated to the Orchestra's late music director, Wolfgang Sawallisch, the Schumann was the program's most ceremonial tribute. Its gentle somberness suited the memory of a conductor whom concertmaster David Kim described as an "understated" man who "never drew attention to himself."
The other rouser on the program followed the Schumann. JanáÄek's Sinfonietta is scored for an oversized orchestra (despite its title) and opens with a fanfare for 14 trumpets.
Both the JanáÄek and the DvoÅ™ák are loaded with electrifying moments, but they also require a conductor who is sensitive to tone colors and interesting contrasts. The opening flourish in the JanáÄek may evoke an irresistible thrill, but the piece would become a bore without a conductor who can handle more restrained moments like the passage in which a piccolo floats over the rumble of the cellos. Yannick proved, once again, that he's capable of commanding both ends of the spectrum.
The concert's major weakness was the decision to play the Schumann with the same oversize orchestra that JanáÄek specified for his Sinfonietta. The passages in which Schumann massed the full force of the orchestra sounded labored. Much as I love the cello, it's possible to have too many.
Changing city, changing tastes
Sawallisch, who died in February at the age of 89, was the last conductor in a line of Old World Philadelphia Orchestra conductors that began in 1912 with Leopold Stokowski. That line took root in a time when Philadelphia was a growing, thriving city and American cultural and intellectual leaders perceived European orchestral music as the top level of a musical hierarchy.
Today we live in a time when the Orchestra must cope with the financial headaches of a shrunken city as well as a society whose cultural leaders respect popular music fads as much as the Classical tradition.
For those of us who already love the Classical tradition, Sawallisch's understated personality inspired affection, and his work on the podium generated memories that we can treasure for the rest of our lives. The new era requires a music director who can excite newcomers without cheapening or corrupting the tradition he is supposed to preserve. So far, Yannick seems to be the right man for the job.♦
To read another review by Steve Cohen, click here.
What, When, Where
Philadelphia Orchestra: Schumann, Adagio from Symphony No. 2 in C major; JanáÄek, Sinfonietta; Brahms, Violin Concerto in D major; DvoÅ™ák: Slavonic Dances. Gil Shaham, violin; Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor. May 23-25, 2013 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center, Broad and Spruce St. (215) 893-1999 or www.philorch.org.
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