Concert Review: An Apocalyptic Anniversary

The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony turns 15.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

David Bernard (center) at the helm of the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony.
Photo provided by Hemsing Associates.

The great city of New York is home to a vibrant community of amateur musicians, players with training and experience who do not necessarily perform full-time. One of the more eminent ensembles of the last decade has been the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony. On Sunday afternoon, the PACS celebrated its 15th anniversary Sunday with a concert at Lincoln Center's medium-sized Rose Theater, located in the Time Warner Center on Columbus Circle

Concert Review: The Family That Plays Together

The 5 Browns Debut at Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Waiting for their Steinways: The 5 Browns perch on a piano.
Image © 2013 The 5 Browns.

The piano transcription has always been the unloved middle child of the keyboard repertory. Sometimes, playing an orchestral work can reveal harmonic complexities or make the composer's intent clearer to the ear. Other transcriptions can drain a work of its vitality and reduce orchestral colors to mere dexterity and flash.


Both of those extremes were on display on Friday night at Carnegie Hall, which saw the debut of sibling pianists The 5 Browns on the main stage of that historic auditorium. These Utah-raised, Juilliard-educated pianists (Desirae, Deondra, Gregory, Melody and Ryan) offered a program that was almost entirely composed of piano transcriptions, featuring their signature sound of five Steinway concert grands, nosed up against each other in a vast circle of keys, hammers and strings.

Concert Review: Dance 'til You Drop

Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra return to Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Valery Gergiev. Photo by Aleexander Shapunov
© 2013 Columbia Artists Management International, courtesy CAMI.

You can say one thing for Valery Gergiev: he's determined to focus on music.

Last night, the conductor had his second encounter this season with protesters from Queer Nation. They lined up under Carnegie Hall's glass portico to express their displeasure with Mr. Gergiev's close association with Russian leader Vladimir Putin--and his lack of comment on the Putin government's laws banning so-called "gay propaganda" within Russia.

Concert Review: Budapest Festival Orchestra Straddles Two Centuries

The 18th and 20th centuries clashed at last night's concert by the Budapest Festival Orchestra--with sexy results.

Iván Fischer

On Tuesday night, the orchestra explored the dichotomy between the genteel "classical" works of Franz Josef Haydn and the rough-and-tumble modernism of Igor Stravinsky. Iván Fischer, the kinetic Hungarian maestro who founded the orchestra 27 years ago, conducted.


The Haydn works found the orchestra in period instrument mode. The brass section used slide trumpets and natural horns, complete with replaceable crooks. Timpanist Dénes Roland sat at a small pair of period kettledrums, playing with wooden sticks. The Haydn Symphony No. 102 sprang to life, a work filled with genteel, yet earthy good humor. Crisp rhythms, warm strings and a bright contribution from the winds made this a distinguished performance.

The Piano Concerto No. 11 was written for an 18th century pianoforte. However, this performance pitted a modern Steinway (played by Alexei Lubimov) on a modern Steinway against the period band. Mr. Lubimov made the case for this anachronistic arrangement with fleet-fingered legato playing, and elegant turns of phrase. The final, rondo had an almost manic energy, as the orchestra supported Mr. Lubimov through every twist and turn of the work.


The full orchestra filled the stage for a raucous reading of The Rite of Spring. Stravinsky's 1913 ballet is one of the cultural touchstones of the 20th century, a thundering, violent work that depicts the barbaric pagan rites of ancient Russia. Under Mr. Fischer's direction, the taut polyrhythms and blasts of brass acquired a fearsome, battering force, hammering at the senses in a frenzied dance.

A reprieve came with the second section of the ballet, but it was not to last. The quieter moments, featuring the elegaic horns (now playing modern instruments), lengthy bassoon solos and muttered honks on the bass clarinets. These gave way to the final, sacrificial dance, driven to an earth-shattering conclusion as Mr. Fischer exhorted his musicians to new heights of aural savagery.

To close the concert, Mr. Fischer returned and led his band in a work from the 19th century: the 21st (and last) of Brahms' Hungarian Dances. Shot through with rhythms of their homeland, the Brahms work served as a pleasant, high-energy palate cleanser after the controlled brutality of the Stravinsky: a fitting way to end this New York appearance by this excellent, underrated orchestra.