Concert Review: Coming Down to Earth

The Royal Concertgebouw plays Bruch and Mahler. 
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Violinist Janine Jansen played the Bruch Concerto No. 1 at Carnegie Hall
on Thursday night. Photo courtesy Decca/UMG.

The second night of the Royal Concertgebouw's 2018 stand at Carnegie Hall did not scale the same dizzying heights as its first. This performance, led by music director Daniele Gatti featured the Dutch ensemble setting aside the cosmic considerations of Bruckner for the earthier world of a composer that has proved even more popular: Gustav Mahler.

Concert Review: The Highlander Way

The sounds of Scotland come to Fukuoka.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Maestro Shao-Chia Liu led the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra in Mendelssohn and Bruch.
Photo from the Taiwan Philharmonic.

The vast distance between Scotland and Fukuoka, located on the southern island of Kyushu, Japan narrowed on Friday, February 17, when the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra offered an evening of works inspired by that faraway country. On the podium, Shao-Chia Lu, a guest conductor visiting from Taiwan where he is the music director of the Taiwan Philharmonic.

Concert Review: The End is the Beginning

Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Berlin Philharmonic open Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Anne-Sophie Mutter, 2014-15 Carnegie Hall Perspectives Artist
played at opening night. Photo by Harald Hoffmann for Deutsche Grammophon.
© 2014 Universal Classics/UMG

The opening of Carnegie Hall is always a festive occasion, with red carpet laid down under the famous portico on W. 57th St., a black-tie crowd and this year, a gala dinner on the Hall's new grassy roof deck. However, the main attraction this year was that the season was opening with the Berlin Philharmonic, in town for a week of concerts, a residency that will launch not only this year's Carnegie season but Lincoln Center's own White Light Festival next week.

Concert Review: He Supposes, Erroneously

The American Symphony Orchestra exhumes Max Bruch's Moses.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Sssh: American Symphony Orchestra music director Leon Botstein
Photo by Jito Lee © 2011 The Melos Ethos Festival.

Since assuming the directorship of the American Symphony Orchestra in 1991, Dr. Leon Botstein has made it his mission to expose audiences to long-forgotten works of the 19th and 20th centuries. His latest discovery is Moses, a two-hour oratorio by Max Bruch, written in 1895 when the Romantic tradition was breathing its last. On Thursday night, Dr. Botstein led the ASO in this work, joined by the Collegiate Chorale and a trio of up-and-coming opera singers at Carnegie Hall.

Concert Review: Romance Isn't Dead

Wagner, Bruch and Bruckner in New Jersey.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

NJSO maestro Jacques Lacombe and friend.

Sometimes, a good program is all you need.

A good example is this week's set of concerts by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra under music director Jacques Lacombe. This program featured veteran concert violinist Sarah Chang playing Max Bruch's First Violin Concerto. Bracketing this Romantic masterpice: works by Richard Wagner and Anton Bruckner, two very different composers who were individually obsessed with the concepts of salvation and redemption.

Concert Review: The Philosopher's Stone

Christoph Eschenbach conducts Bruch and Bruckner.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Knowing the score: conductor Christoph Eschenbach.

This week's New York Philharmonic concerts bring together the Romantic violin flourishes of Max Bruch with the staid, cathedral-like sound of Anton Bruckner. At first look, the two composers have nothing in common except for the first four letters of their last names.

It was the task of conductor Christoph Eschenbach to bridge these two very different sound-worlds. He accomplished that by juxtaposing Bruch's Violin Concerto, a stirring, Romantic favorite with the Bruckner Sixth, the shortest and least performed of the Austrian composer's mature symphonies. On Wednesday night, the two works proved to have a potent one-two punch under Mr. Eschenbach, the pianist-turned-conductor who currently heads the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C.

For the concerto, the orchestra was joined by Pinchas Zukerman. Mr. Zukerman played the solo part with rich low tones and a supple sound that swelled in volume as it rose in pitch.Mr. Eschenbach kept the concerto flowing smoothly forward from the Introduction to the central Adagio, supporting the soloist with rich color in the brass and woodwinds. The strings formed a lush support for the solo line in this slow movement, allowing Mr. Zukerman room to expand the central theme. The final Allegro dance allowed fresh opportunities for virtuoso flights and rhythmic drive as Mr. Eschenbach led the orchestra in Bruch's kinetic dance.