Concert Review: The Bearable Lightness of Being

Alan Gilbert conducts his last program of the 2015-16 season.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The amazing Carter Brey and his favored instrument.
Photo by Chris Lee © 2016 The New York Philharmonic.

For the past year-plus, the podium of the New York Philharmonic has been aswirl as the orchestra prepares to make a transition from the Alan Gilbert era to the leadership of incoming music director Jaap van Zweden. Although he has brought a welcome appreciation for modern music to America's oldest orchestra, Mr. Gilbert hasn't always seen eye to eye with traditional repertory, particularly Germanic music like Schumann and Brahms.

Concert Review: The Mother Weeps, the Voices Soar

Rossini's Stabat Mater at Mostly Mozart.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Gianandrea Noseda made his Mostly Mozart debut with Rossini's Stabat Mater

When you think of the name Giaoachino Rossini, it is usually in connection with the 39 operas he wrote by the age of 37, and not with choral music. On Wednesday night, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra offered the second of two performances of the composer's Stabat Mater, one of the few products of the composer's long retirement. The concert was conducted by Festival newcomer Gianandrea Noseda.

Concert Review: Half Nielsen

Alan Gilbert advocates for the concertos of the Danish composer.
(Reposted from The Classical Review.)
by Paul J. Pelkonen

An advocate for Nielsen: conductor Alan Gilbert.
Photo by Chris Lee © 2012 The New York Philharmonic.

In the last three seasons, New York Philharmonic music director Alan 
Gilbert has championed the works of  Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) best
 remembered for his six symphonies. Wednesday night’s concert at Avery Fisher Hall focused
 on Nielsen’s concertos: specifically the 1926 Concerto for Flute (featuring soloist Robert Langevin) and 
the earlier Concerto for Violin with soloist Nikolaj Znaider.

Read the full article by Paul J. Pelkonen, exclusively on The Classical Review!

Concert Review: Flying the Blue Cross

LSO presents Sibelius at Avery Fisher Hall. 

Sir Colin Davis. Photo by Stephanie Berger © London Symphony Orchestra.

On Wednesday night, the London Symphony Orchestra opened their three-night stand at Lincoln Center  with a performance of two Sibelius favorites under the baton of Sir Colin Davis. The Finnish composer has always been one of this conductor's specialties, and Sir Colin has now recorded his seven symphonies twice over--once in Boston for Philips, and once on the LSO's LSO Live label.

Sir Colin is now 84, and moves slowly through the musicians to the adjustable chair on the podium. He conducts the orchestra (of which he remains president) sitting down. But this performance, of the Violin Concerto with Nicolaj Znaider and the Symphony No. 2 made the Avery Fisher Hall crowd stand up and cheer the British band as they played these quintessential Finnish works.

This Violin Concerto is a popular one, one that makes the soloist work on equal terms with orchestra and conductor. It stands at the transitory point between Sibelius' early nationalist works and the pure music that followed. The solo part is written in total cooperation with the orchestra, with the lengthy cadenzas acting as dramatic soliloquies.

Mr. Znaider launched the concerto, then wove a detailed narrative with Mr. Davis. The LSO provided robust support as the violinist weaved in and out of the melodic lines, occasionally pausing so Mr. Znaider could fire off a dazzling cadenza before diving back into the distinctive dotted  rhythm.

The second movement featured a darker, sweeter tone from Mr. Znaider,  through its slow passages, giving way to a warm, burnished sound. The finale whirled at the listener in mad dance over a jogging rhythm that sounded like a very fast Finnish polka. The violinist then asked the audience for the indulgence of an encore, dedicated to Sir Colin Davis. He played the Sarabande from Bach's Second Partita for Solo Violin.

The patriotic Second Symphony remains the most popular of the composer's seven. Sibelius, writing in Romantic and patriotic mode, used the Finnish struggle against Russian rule to paint an aural picture of victory over repression. The woodwinds played with great eloquence in the folk-dancing opening theme, answered by the brass and eventually repeated by the whole orchestra. 

Sir Colin brought grim purpose to the two central movements which depict the preparations for war. The wind solo in the Scherzo was particularly eloquent. The finale became a mighty song of triumph , roaring forth the anticipated Finnish victory over Russia, but also symbolizing man's achievements in the face of any obstacle.

CD Review: Sibelius, Distilled

The Second, Fifth Symphonies in piano transcription.

Flying Finn: pianist Henri Sigfridsson.
Photo by Marco Borggreve. © 2011 Henri Sigfridsson/Ondine Classics.

The difficult art of turning a full orchestral symphony into a bravura work for solo piano is most often associated with the composer-pianist Franz Liszt, who transcribed the nine Beethoven symphonies into finger-busting exercises in order to please his public and publishers.

On this new disc, pianist Henri Sigfridsson chose two of Sibelius' seven symphonies: the Second and the Fifth. In the case of each work, the results make for compelling listening. This is the Finnish pianist's second disc of piano transcriptions of Sibelius works. (An earlier release on Hanssler Classics features some of the composer's tone poems and incidental music.)


Hearing a symphonic score rebuilt for the piano often allows the listener to experience fresh details of tone and color that may be obscured by the wash of strings or the stentorian force of brass. For Sibelius, whose compositional style is focused on simplicity and clarity, the transcription process sharpens each musical idea to a diamond edge.

In the case of the Second, (one of Sibelius' more optimistic symphonies) the whole first movement is built around a stuttering figure in the left hand and an answering folk-dance played with the right. The naturalistic rhythms of the symphony spring to life across the piano keyboard, as Mr. Sigfridsson plays the transcription with taut rhythms and attention to the key details in the score.

The middle movements of this symphony detail Finland's struggle for independence. Mr. Sigfridsson plays the halting cello figures of the slow movement with his left hand, interjecting alarums with his right as the Russian armies approach. The optimistic 14-minute finale is the most difficult to bring off, but this skilled piansit makes it work.

The Fifth Symphony is even more interesting, with the famous "ringing horns" of the last movement sounding forth in the bass notes of the piano, held down with careful use of the sustain pedal to recreate the original, antiphonal effect. Mr. Sigfridsson's transcription addsa uniform, almost Bach-like effect, as the noble themes sound forth.

These Sibelius transcriptions exhibit a very different style than the flashy concert works of the 19th century. Great attention is paid to inflection of the notes, to replicate a wind instrument, a rampart of brass, or a conductor siezed in the orgiastic waves of sound used to depict the rising Finnish people or the frozen tundras of Lapland. The result is wonderfully refreshing to the ears: great music stripped down to its barest essence.

Concert Review: Pinch Hitter Enters Starting Lineup

BSO's Sean Newhouse presents first program at Symphony Hall.

Sean Newhouse leading the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Photo by Michael J. Lutch © 2011 Boston Symphony Orchestra

The Boston Symphony Orchestra's second program of its 2011 season features conductor Sean Newhouse. This budding American conductor made a splash last February, subbing for an ailing James Levine, conducting a superb Mahler Ninth on two hours' notice. But with Mr. Levine now gone from Boston, Mr. Newhouse (who holds the post of assistant conductor at the BSO) had the opportunity to conduct his first subscription concert at Symphony Hall.

This proved to be a strong evening of orchestral war-horses, led with energy and style. The concert opened with Benjamin Britten's Four Sea Interludes from the opera Peter Grimes--a work originally commissioned in 1946 by Serge Koussevitzky, himself a former BSO music director. Mr. Newhouse offered smooth string tones, a brassy sunrise in Dawn and an idyllic picture of Britten's fishing village in Sunday Morning, complete with gossiping woodwinds.

The idyll yielded to the deceptive calm of Moonlight, which pictures the fisherman Grimes on the edge of panic, literally teetering on the edge of a cliff. The opera's raw emotions burst out in the final, furious Storm, led with great emotion and simultaneous restraint by Mr. Newhouse. The work ended with a moving orchestral elegy for Britten's doomed hero, a sympathetic epitaph for the unsympathetic Grimes.

Serge Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto is the most popular of the composer's five, an ideal showpiece for the right soloist. Here, it was French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. Mr. Bavouzet played the three movements with the right blend of ironic detachment and virtuoso technique. This concerto features some of Prokofiev's most challenging piano figures, driven with folk-like melodies that twist and turn, as the soloist dazzles the listener with raw technique.

In addition to impressive gymnastics (crossing hands in what pianists call the "pretzel trick") Mr. Bavouzet played with an elegant, liquid tone, creating legato transitions not often heard in most interpretations of this composer. The cadenzas were delicately played, with each note precisely in place and the whole flowing smoothly. Mr. Newhouse proved a strong accompanist, handling one tiny orchestral hiccough without missing another beat.

Mr. Newhouse returned to center stage for the Second (and most popular) Symphony of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The product of strife and the 20-year struggle for that country's independence, the Second depicts conflict between Finland and neighboring Russia. The first movement depicts the idyllic Finland with the threat of war on the horizon. BSO assistant principal oboist Keisuke Wakao led off the folksy opening figure, answered by chugging strings and a majestic brass chorale.

With its plucked opening, the slow movement is all dread and suspense. Mr. Newhouse led this tricky, episodic Andante with care, creating the aural images of a Russian army on the march and its impending crack-down on the smaller country's dreams of independence. The third movement shows the Finns preparing for war, stocking up supplies and hunkering down as the conflict erupts. It was briskly played, with an elegaic second theme in the bassoons.

Sibelius ended this symphony on an optimistic note with a rising, surging theme led by the brass section that depicts (eventual) victory over the Russians. Mr. Newhouse responded to the material, riding the waves of brass and strings to lift the last pages of this mighty finale into a joyful union with the opening wind oboe theme. This was a statement concert from an important young conductor, whose arrival in Boston may be a key part of James Levine's lasting legacy to the BSO.

Furtwängler: The Composer

Wilhelm Furtwängler. Photo  from the archives of the Berlin Philharmonic
 © Wilhelm-Furtwängler-Gesellschaft.

The conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler (1886-1954) remains a controversial figure today. He was widely criticized for remaining in Hitler's Germany up until 1944. (He left for Switzerland, hours before he was nearly arrested.) However, the maestro never joined the Nazi party, and made successful efforts to rescue Jewish musicians and composers and get them out of Germany.

The years following the fall of Hitler marked the rise of the recording industry, and Furtwängler (following de-Nazification hearings in 1946) became one of its first stars. But he always considered himself a composer first, and a conductor second. His best-known work is the Symphony No. 2 in E Minor. Written during his years in Switzerland, is an enormous four-movement work. Epic in size and scope, it is a cousin to the Bruckner Eighth, but with a distinct voice of its own.

The Second Symphony proves Furtwängler to be a talented, if conservative composer. He eschews the serial techniques of the 20th century, using an old-fashioned structure to work out his musical ideas at length. Not surprisingly, the Second dropped into obscurity after its 1947 premiere. However, in 2002, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra applied itself to performing and recording the work, under the baton of Daniel Barenboim.

Here's the Furtwängler Second, movement by movement.

First Movement: Assai moderato
A stately opening in the bassoons yields to horns, then a slow figure in the strings. The instruments play a soft canon, joined by the English horn. Then, the main theme, building and swelling as clarinets and trumpets add color. The brass surges forth over a river of strings. Quotes from Wagner are audible. The work rises to a climax three times, stops, and surges again.

Second movement: Andante semplice
A questing theme in the clarinets gets handed over to the low strings. This is a slow, surging, pastorale, with bird-twitters in the flutes and gentle rolls of timpani.

Third Movement: Scherzo, un poco Moderato
The third is a meaty Scherzo, with chorales of Bach-like complexity unfolding in the woodwinds and horns over chugging, propulsive strings. The trio section features a slower tempo and extraordinarily detailed dialogue between the woodwinds.

Fourth Movement: Langsam, Allmählich vorwärts/Allegro molto
This one of the longest symphonic movements not written by Gustav Mahler, clocking in on this recording at 30'13". It takes the form of a long climb to a musical summit. The finale opens with a descending figure and a soft hunting call in the horns that will eventually transform into the noble main theme of the finale.

The strings mourn, playing tremolos and shimmering figures. These alternate with the slow hunting calls, providing the entire movement with steady, relentless momentum. Finally, the summit, and a majestic brass coda in the final minute, followed by moretremolos and three loud chords to bring this massive symphony to a close.