Concert Review: An Unexpected Party

David Zinman steps in at the Philharmonic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

David Zinman in motion. Photo courtesy davidzinman.org.

This week at the New York Philharmonic was supposed to be a summit of young artists. Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki was scheduled to make his New York debut with the Schumann Piano Concerto. And on the podium: Daniel Harding, the imaginative young British conductor. Music lovers looked forward to hearing his interpretations of two Sibelius symphonies: the Third and Seventh.

However, Mr. Harding cancelled due to illness. His place was taken by David Zinman, the veteran American conductor (and Brooklyn native) who last appeared with the orchestra for The Modern Beethoven, a two-week survey of that composer's instrumental symphonies in March of this year. From the chugging cello-driven opening of the Sibelius Third, the audience at Friday morning's 11am concert knew that they, and the orchestra were in the hands of an expert.

Mr. Zinman's calling card is clarity, bringing out unusual textures from the depths of a well-known score so listeners sometimes walk out having heard a work in a different way. This approach was admirably suited to the Sibelius Third, a lean, thirsty symphony in which the Finnish composer eschewed nationalism and narrative for pure music and an economy of style that would serve as his second musical legacy.

Concert Review: An End to Modernity

David Zinman winds up The Modern Beethoven.
by Paul Pelkonen

David Zinman demonstrates baton technique. Photo by Chris Lee.
© 2012 The New York Philharmonic.

This is the last week of The Modern Beethoven, the New York Philharmonic's spring festival pairing six of the composer's symphonies with unfamiliar concertos from the 20th century. This festival is the brain-child of David Zinman, the Bronx-born conductor whose uncompromising approach to music-making strips years of aural varnish from Beethoven's familiar scores.

The concert opened with a boisterous, no-frills reading of Beethoven's First Symphony. Mr. Zinman created a fresh musical statement from this early example of the composer's style, choosing energetic, but not hurried tempos. The orchestra responded, playing with great clarity and refinement.

The "modern" work on the program was the most interesting yet: the first Philharmonic performances of Karl Amadeus Hartmann's 1939 Concerto funèbre for violin and orchestra with soloist Gil Shaham. Despite a few Webern-esque squawks in the opening bars, this 20-minute concerto, played in one continuous movement, proved appealing, and yes, tonal.

A German composer who was profoundly unsympathetic to the Nazis, Hartmann wrote this piece as the storm clouds of World War Two gathered. Musically, this concerto forms a bridge between the diaphanous fabrics of Wagner's Parsifal (which it quotes, repeatedly) and the war symphonies of Shostakovich. Hartmann also incorporates Czech and Russian folk songs, expressing sympathy those countries, soon to be attacked by the Nazi war machine.

Mr. Shaham played with a keening, dry tone from the opening, a chorale based on a Hussite hymn from what is now the Czech Republic. The soloist was all business, making his instrument sob with grief in the slow section of the work, scratching out minor chords of rage like a speed-metal riffer in the Allegro. The finale featured a second chorale, evoking the fate of Russia as it stood in the path of the Nazi war machine. It came to a quiet close, then regenerated for a powerful coda, ending with loud, brash chords.

The concert ended with a Beethoven heavyweight: the 50-minute Eroica Symphony. Mr. Zinman's approach to this familiar score is to bring out details in the music that may have gone unheard before. The first movement had great detail, especially a theme in the low strings that later becomes the basis of the finale. The funeral march was philosophical, but not dragging in tone.

The infusion of energy common to this conductor's podium style occurred in the third movement, a boisterous scherzo that allowed the Philharmonic's woodwinds and brass their turn in the spotlight.Although the horns, led by principal Philip Myers did not sound their best here, the playing had a rude energy that made up for dodgy intonation.

Best of all was the finale, that famous theme and variations where the composer treats the sections and sub-sections of the ensemble as players in an oversized piece of chamber music. As the theme was tossed between the player, Mr. Zinman occasionally beckoned for more volume, or made an hermetic slashing pattern with his baton. The result: an invigorating performance of this famous symphony, and a fitting close to three weeks of The Modern Beethoven.

Concert Review: Riddle Me This

Week Two of The Modern Beethoven at the New York Philharmonic.

by Paul Pelkonen

David Zinman.
Photo by Priska Ketterer.

The Modern Beethoven is conductor David Zinman's three-week essay arguing the influence of Ludwig van Beethoven on 20th century composition. Thursday night's concert at the New York Philharmonic kicked off the second week of the festival. The program featured Samuel Barber's 1946 Cello Concerto, bracketed by the Eighth and Fourth Symphonies.

Although all nine Beethoven symphonies are the bread and butter of orchestral programming, the Eighth is infrequently heard. It is a seeming throwback to the composer's early style and the galant 18th century writing of Haydn and C.P.E. Bach. This is a work shot through with Beethoven's unique sense of musical humor, full of inside jokes, self-references and riddles for a skilled conductor to solve.

The first of these problems: the unique opening phrase of the first movement. It seems to start in the middle of a theme, almost as if the listener walks in just as the punch-line of a joke is being told. The resulting peal of orchestral laughter (that actually starts the symphony) was slightly muffed last night, though the Philharmonic players pulled things together to deliver a crisp reading.

The second movement owes its debt to the invention of the metronome. Steady ticking rhythms are plucked out and the sprightly main theme burbled over the meter. The final two movements were even better, Beethoven at his most cheerful interpreted by Mr. Zinman's seemingly casual, but fiercely accurate conducting.

For the "modern" portion of the program, cellist Alisa Weilerstein joined the expanded orchestra to play Samuel Barber's Cello Concerto. Ms. Weilerstein has established herself as a star on her instrument in the last decade. Here, she played Barber's thorny opening with a fierce attack, her left hand racing up the neck of her instrument as she bowed with intent and concentration. 

The slow movement breathed with a mourning air, possibly reflecting the work's post-World War Two origins. The final movement featured kinetic, breath-taking playing from Ms. Weilerstein. Her left hand leapt, spider-like from interval to interval. Mr. Zinman provided jazzy accompaniment, the music seeming to presage the film scores of the decades that followed the work's premiere.

The concert ended with another merry Beethoven symphony: the Fourth. This is a much simpler joke than the Eighth, with a slow introduction that leaps into a Haydn-like allegro without any warning. The four movements were played with clean, precise lines, with Mr. Zinman looking like he was having a marvelous time bringing this warm, good-hearted music before the ears of the public.

The Post-Modern Beethoven

Reflections on the death of John Belushi.

by Paul Pelkonen

Lewd wig: John Belushi as Beethoven.
Image from Saturday Night Live  © 1978 Broadway Video/National Broadcasting Company.

Comedian, singer, dancer and Blues Brother John Belushi died 30 years ago today. Here's some  classic footage of Mr. Belushi hamming it up as composer Ludwig van Beethoven.

Consider it a tip of the hat to the New York Philharmonic's on-going Modern Beethoven festival, which features conductor David Zinman leading concerts that combine the composer's symphonies with works from the 20th century. Check out a Superconductor review of last Friday's concert.

Mr. Zinman's program this week features Samuel Barber's Cello Concerto, paired with Beethoven's Eighth and Fourth Symphonies. I don't think they'll be playing any Ray Charles:

Footage from Saturday Night Live © 1978 Broadway Video/National Broadcasting Company.

In other Belushi-related news, a New York Times blog post reported today that a team of Broadway producers are planning to bring a musical version of National Lampoon's Animal House to the Great White Way. No word on whether any Delta House alums will be involved in the show. (Personally, I'd cast Tim "Otter") Matheson as Dean Wormer.)

Contact the author: E-mail Superconductor editor Paul Pelkonen.

Concert Review: Thoroughly Modern Ludwig

Week One of The Modern Beethoven with David Zinman.
by Paul Pelkonen.

Man in black: David Zinman conducts the New York Philharmonic.
Photo by Chris Lee © The New York Philharmonic.

On Friday afternoon, Bronx native David Zinman led the New York Philharmonic in a program pairing two Beethoven Symphonies (the Second and the Seventh) with a piece by Igor Stravinsky. This was the second concert of the first week of The Modern Beethoven, the Philharmonic's festival offering this spring.

Mr. Zinman (currently the Music Director of the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich) is a champion of the new, critical edition of Beethoven symphonies, made by Jonathan Del Mar in the 1990s. As a conductor, his principal achievement is one of lucidity. Minor sonic details suddenly rise to the surface with thrilling effect. The Philharmonic sounded fresh and revitalized on Friday afternoon, playing with a blend of rough energy and refined grace.

Starting this three-week festival with the Second Symphony--the least played and least loved of the cycle, is something of a statement of intent. Under his baton, this work's debts to Mozart were apparent. (The opening notes recall the beginning of Die Zauberflöte.) The Allegretto bustled with an energy that recalled Rossini, moving ahead with playfulness and determination.

That operatic grace continued in the Larghetto, which looked forward and back in time: to the Romantic excesses of the 19th century and the courtly music-for-hire that defined the 18th. This is the sound of Beethoven planning the revolution that he launched with the Eroica in 1805. 

Each week of The Modern Beethoven pairs two symphonies with a 20th century work. The idea is to show the correlations that exist between these famous works and lesser-known concerti from the past 100 years. Here, it was the  Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra by Igor Stravinsky, a 15-minute piece in the Russian composer's neo-classical style. Peter Serkin was the featured soloist.

Stravinsky had a love for stripping and altering the familiar forms of so-called "classical" music. The Capriccio is effectively a second piano concerto. Its three tightly connected movements, spanning just 16 minutes. Mr. Serkin played the intimidating solo part with  steely concentration and bright power, creating rapid-fire climaxes from the keyboard. Mr. Zinman provided expert accompaniment, with Stravinsky's orchestral parts benefitting from his energetic leadership.

By using a somewhat enlarged orchestra for the Seventh, Mr. Zinman created a heavier sound from his players without ever sounding heavy-footed. The work's whirling dance movements sparkled with the energy of life itself, while the famous dragging march (heard, famously in the 2010 film The King's Speech) was taken at speed: determined, but not rushed. 

Mr. Zinman brought out the joyful energy of the last two dance movements, driving his orchestra into a Dionysian whirlwind of energy. The second violins and low winds were heard with great clarity, leaping into the fray alongside the other sections as the finale boiled to its climax. This was Beethoven as he is imagined by the Romantics, with rough energy and genteel refinement.

Concert Review: Beethoven Lives on Broad Street

David Zinman brings new life to the Fifth Symphony.

Iconoclast: the conductor David Zinman. Photo © 2011 Berlin Philharmonic/DavidZinman.org

On Friday afternoon at the Kimmel Center, conductor David Zinman brought a fresh perspective to one of the most well-traveled works in the repertory: Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. This is an important work to the Philadelphia Orchestra, who started their long history by playing it way back at their first concert in the year 1900.

Mr. Zinman, an American conductor and music director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, is known for his iconoclastic approach to Beethoven. He uses Jonathan del Mar's critical edition of the scores (published by Bärenreiter in the late 1990s) and takes a vigorous approach to the music. At this concert, Mr. Zinman's conducting stripped away years of aural varnish and debate about performance practice, revealing the bright tone colors beneath.

Although some conductors take a wild, unpredictable approach to the Fifth (in the name of "interpretation") that was not the case here. True, Mr. Zinman does emphasize the unfamiliar aspects of the score, making the part for double basses prominent, and elevating Beethoven's harmonic writing to the same level as the core melodies. And he adds some fanciful details that are entirely his own, most notably an extended "fantasia" oboe cadenza played by Philadelphia associate principal Peter Smith. But none of these ideas subtracted from the totality of the work.

Tempos were brisk, but never rushed. The Philadelphia players bit incisively into the famous four-note rhythm that dominates the entire symphony. The slow movement, with its complex set of variations became a vast, entertaining juggling act. The third movement, with its two contrasting ideas, featured robust playing from the trumpets and cellos. The beginning of the finale, where the trombones seem to "jump in" spontaneously, elevated the whole performance. Mr. Zinman conducted without a score, and everyone knew the piece cold. But they played it as if it were new music being brought before the public for the first time.

This modern, invigorating approach to music-making was also suited to the first half of Friday's program. The concert opened with the Orchestra's second-ever performance of Ash, a tone poem by Michael Torke. Like Beethoven, Mr. Torke builds his work around simple, obsessive rhythms--in this case a pair of six-note phrases that served as a rhythmic foundation for the entire piece. He created rich tonal colors, painting with brass, strings, and even synthesizer in the course of a hypnotic 15 minutes.

Mr. Torke's piece was followed by William Walton's Viola Concerto, a work that allows that instrument the rare opportunity to take the spotlight The solo part was played by Choong-Jin Chang, the Philadelphia Orchestra's principal and leader of the viola section. Although the warm tones of the viola are central to the string-heavy "Philly sound", Mr. Chang clearly relished his chance to stand up front. He offered smooth, fluid playing that demonstrated every tonal color of this underrated instrument. 

Mr. Zinman showed impressive grasp of Walton's structure, bringing affirmation in the final pages.  Over the course of two slow movements and a dancing central scherzo Mr. Chang and Mr. Zinman made a compelling case for this complex, yet lyric work. The Concerto ends (unusually) with a blow-by-blow quotation of the opening of the first movement, creating a circular effect. The wonder was not that Walton chose to create a solo concerto for the alto member of the string family, but that so few other composers have followed suit.