Concert Review: Everything is Awesome!

The St. Petersburg Philharmonic plays Shostakovich.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Yuri Temirkanov has led the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra since 1988.
Photo courtesy Medici.tv.

In 1988, Yuri Temirkanov became music director of what was then the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra. Russia was then the Soviet Union, under the leadership of Andrei Gromyko. Perestroika and Glasnost were just around the corner. On Saturday night, Mr. Temirkanov and his orchestra returned to Carnegie Hall, offering a devoted audience a meat and potatoes program of Brahms and Shostakovich, with the latter's Fifth Symphony among his most popular and politically motivated creations.

Concert Review: Storm Home

Charles Dutoit conducts the New York Philharmonic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Conductor Charles Dutoit. Photo provided by the New York Philharmonic.

The announcement came on Halloween Night, as Hurricane Sandy made her exit from our city, continuing the northwest course that forced the 500-mile-wide swirl of wind and rain smack straight on into New York Harbor:

November 1–3 Concert Program Changed Due To Impact Of Hurricane Sandy 

New Program To Include Works by Glinka, Elgar, and Rachmaninoff 

Soloist Nikolai Lugansky To Make Philharmonic Debut, Charles Dutoit To Conduct.

On Saturday night, with one subway line providing access into Manhattan, this writer was able to see the New York Philharmonic perform this altered program under the sure baton of veteran Swiss conductor Charles Dutoit. The whole program sparkled. It seemed that New York's hometown orchestra wanted to please and soothe with these great works, and provide some measure of healing to an audience still suffering shell shock from the storm.

The performance opened with a brisk, jaunty account of the Overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla, Mikhail Glinka's escapist fantasy based on a surreal drama by Pushkin. Mr. Dutoit and the orchestra produced the overture's Rossini-like rhythms with bold vigor, alternating with rich, Oriental colors from the double reeds.