Concert Review: Slip-Slidin' Away

Valery Gergiev and Daniil Trifonov return to Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

And carry a small stick: Valery Gergiev.
Photo © 2017 Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.

Six years and some months ago, the pianist Daniil Trifonov made his debut at Carnegie Hall. On Saturday night, Mr. Trifonov re-teamed with Valery Gergiev, now at the helm of the MET Orchestra. Mr. Gergiev spent many years as a principal guest conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, and one assumes that the players remain familiar with his eccentric conducting style. This was the first of three scheduled spring concerts by New York's greatest opera orchestra, an annual tradition at this venue following the end of the opera season.

The Year in Reviews: the Best Concerts of 2017

Superconductor takes aim at The Year of the Rooster.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Well, that was a year. 2017 saw Superconductor stick pretty close to home with the exception of one memorable visit to...Japan(!) and the odd trip to Philadelphia and Boston. However, the homefront yielded a great slate of news stories, scandals, protests and even the odd classical music performance. The best are listed below. All concert titles link to reviews except for the Barenboim Bruckner which links to all nine concert reviews from that memorable marathon at Carnegie Hall. Yes, I cheat sometimes. Doesn't everyone?

Here are the most memorable concert experiences of 2017 in chronological order.

Concert Review: The Fires of Inspiration

Daniil Trifonov unleashes his Piano Concerto at Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Valery Gergiev (left) and pianist/composer Daniil Trifonov in Rotterdam, 2016
Photo © Gergiev Festival 2016 Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

One of the questions I get as a music critic (aside from "Do you play an instrument?" and "How do you make money?") goes something like this:

"Is there any new music that you write about?"

Yes. Yes there is.

At Carnegie Hall on Wednesday night, the Mariinsky Orchestra and pianist Daniil Trifonov offered the New York premiere of the artist's first Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. Now 26, Mr. Trifonov has made a name for himself as a young and respected virtuoso, the leading example of a new generation of piano-slingers thrilling listeners around the world. This concerto, which received its New York premiere at this concert, is his shot at a whole new kind of legitimacy.

Concert Review: Swimming Against the Tide of Protest

The Mariinsky Orchestra (with protestors) returns to Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen 

A sea of notes: Valery Gergiev (left) and Denis Matsuev at play.
Photo by Denis Matsuev © 2016 personal collection of the artist. 

A visit from Valery Gergiev is always an occasion for celebration...and for protest. The conductor and his Mariinsky Orchestra were met at Carnegie Hall on Wednesday by applause inside the historic venue, while the sidewalk outside the lobby filled with placard-carrying citizens, objecting the close ties between Mr. Gergiev and Vladimir Putin, the current president of the Russian Federation. However, there were no politics inside the great hall this night, only a program of 20th century Russian music.

The Carnegie Hall 2017-2018 Season Preview

The Hall Where Music Lives sets the wayback machine.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Two visitors check out Carnegie Hall (left) in the 1960s.
Sherman and Mr. Peabody © Dreamworks Entertainment.

The science of time travel is not normally associated with the classical music business. And yet, one might argue that the finest time travel device in New York City stands not in some hidden laboratory but on the corner of 57th St. and Seventh Avenue. That's right, it's Carnegie Hall, whose 2017-18 season offers the intrepid listener a chance to travel between centuries and musical worlds.

Concert Review: ...And Carry a Small Stick

Valery Gergiev conducts Debussy, Schubert and Mahler.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

An intense moment with Valery Gergiev.
Photo © 2017 Mariinsky Opera.

Any concert under the leadership of Valery Gergiev can be an uncertain affair. His unconventional conducting style, with fingers a-tremble, an impetuous beat and miniscule baton (sometimes no bigger than a toothpick!) gets results, and they're always at least worth writing about. On  Wednesday night at Carnegie Hall, Mr. Gergiev, the newly installed principal conductor of the Munich Philharmonic led his troops in exploration of Debussy, Schubert and Mahler, using his unique podium style to offer fresh and yes, successful insight into these three different composers. For this concert, he used a conventional, (although small) baton.

Concert Review: Dionysius Rampant

Valery Gergiev conducts Beethoven and Ravel.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Valery Gergiev at the helm of his Munich forces.
Photo by Chris Christodoulou at the BBC proms © 2016 The British Broadcasting Company.

An evening with Valery Gergiev on the podium is never dull. The Russian maestro returned to Carnegie Hall on Monday night with his new orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, and a conservative but lucid program pairing the works of Ravel and Beethoven. This concert marked the first appearance of Mr. Gergiev as the music director of the Munich forces, although he did substitute duty for an ailing Lorin Maazel two years ago.

Concert Review: From Sunup to Twilight

Valery Gergiev conducts the Vienna Philharmonic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Valery Gergiev conducting.
 Photo by Alberto Venzago © 2016 Columbia Artists Management Inc.

Saturday night's Carnegie Hall appearance by the Vienna Philharmonic was the second of three concerts given by the orchestra in New York on its current American tour. It also marked the fourth of five concerts last week for Valery Gergiev, the St. Petersburg-based conductor whose presence on a bill guarantees a small but vocal group of protesters outside the venue shaming the maestro for his ties to Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.

Concert Review: A Marathon for the Fingers

The Mariinsky Orchestra plays all five Prokofiev piano concertos.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Directing traffic: Valery Gergiev (standing, right) leads the Mariinsky Orchestra as pianist
Daniil Trifonov labors over the Prokofiev Third Piano Concerto.
Photo by Robert Altman © 2015 Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Although Serge Prokofiev is a master of 20th century music, his five piano concertos suffer undue neglect. It is the current mission of the Mariinsky Orchestra and its music director Valery Gergiev, to correct that oversight. On Wednesday night, the Mariinsky players opened a three-night stand at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The program: all five Prokofiev piano concertos, played in chronological order by five different soloists.

Concert Review: His Last Bow...For Now

Valery Gergiev's last LSO tour stops at Lincoln Center.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Protest? What protest? Valery Gergiev returned to Lincoln Center on Friday night.
Photo by Alberto Venzago © 2015 Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Valery Gergiev is a colorful and divisive figure. Colorful for his podium idiosyncracies: fluttering hands, tiny batons and a knack for delivering performances that always seem right on the edge of falling apart. Divisive: for some of those same reasons--plus his close association with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, one that repeatedly draws placard-carrying protesters from New York's Ukrainian community.

DVD Review: Coming Down to Earth

Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Opera take on Die Frau Ohne Schatten.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Lost in the darkness: Mlada Khudoley (left) and Avgust Amonov as the Empress and Emperor
in Richard Strauss' Die Frau Ohne Schatten.
Photo © 2011 Mariinsky Opera.

Die Frau Ohne Schatten is composer Richard Strauss' most ambitious collaboration with librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal. A Magic Flute-style quest (in this case for the missing "shadow" of the title) written on a Wagnerian scale, Frau has a complex libretto that requires its director to make frequent transitions between the everyday world and the realm of faerie, ruled by the merciless Keikobad. The titular Frau is  Keikobad's daughter, the Empress. She seeks to cast a shadow and bring fertility to her loveless marriage. With five leading roles and a heavyweight orchestration, it is a formidable challenge for any opera house.

Concert Review: Rushing Into the Stratosphere

The Mariinsky Orchestra with Denis Matsuev at Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The pianist Denis Matsuev returned to Carnegie Hall on Wednesday night.
Photo © Matsuev.com

The second of the Mariinsky Orchestra's two concerts this week at Carnegie Hall was in some ways similar to the first.. Outside, a dozen protesters appeared again, chanting slogans about music director Valery Gergiev and his close connection with the current government of Russia. Inside, cameras were mounted in the rear of the parquet and on stage left to capture Mr. Gergiev and his forces, in the first digital broadcast of an orchestral concert from Carnegie Hall on Medici.TV.

Concert Review: From Exile to Silence

The Mariinsky Orchestra returns to Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Valery Gergiev. Photo by Alexander Shapunov for the Mariinsky Theater.

The Mariinsky Orchestra, currently on tour in North America, returned to New York on Tuesday night. So did the protesters, lining the sidewalk in front of Carnegie Hall. About a dozen in number, they held up placards in English and Cyrillic. They shouted at concert-goers, handed out fliers and chanted slogans. Their issue: the close connection between Mariinsky artistic director Valery Gergiev and Vladimir Putin, the Russian political leader whose 2014 invasion of the Ukraine and anti-homosexual agenda were the twin subjects of the protest.

Opera Review: No God, Only Religion

The Mariinsky Opera brings The Enchanted Wanderer to BAM.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The swing of things: Kristin Kapustinskaya (downstage) as Grusha in The Enchanted Wanderer.
Photo by the Mariinsky Opera © 2015 Brooklyn Academy of Music.

The arrival of the musical forces of the Mariinsky Theater in New York is always a memorable occasion. On Wednesday night, the company unveiled its 2007 production of Rodion Shchedrin's 2002 opera The Enchanted Wanderer at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Outside the theater, a knot of protesters held up pro-Ukraine placards, decrying the 2013 Russian invasion of the Crimea and the  close allegiance of music director Valery Gergiev with political strongman Vladmir Putin. Inside, opera-goers were treated to an opera that despite its recent vintage, recalled the grayish stage works of the late Soviet era.

The Three Strauss-keteers

Fabio Luisi and Valery Gergiev step in with the Munich Philharmonic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Juggling batons: With Lorin Maazel (left) ill,Valery Gergiev (center) and Fabio Luisi (right) will step in to

conduct major Strauss tone poems with the Munich Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall.

Photo of Mr. Maazel from his website. Photo of Mr. Luisi © 2014 Opernhaus Zurich.

Photo of Mr. Gergiev by Laura Luostarinen © 2006 the Polar Music Awards. Photo alteration by the author.

New Yorkers have lost their chance to hear Lorin Maazel conduct major works by Richard Strauss this weekend.

Concert Review: Life During Wartime

Valery Gergiev conducts Shostakovich at Carnegie Hall
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The effects of war: Stalingrad in 1943 after the battle.
Image © 1943 RIAN Archive, licensed through Wikimedia Commons.

The protesters were absent on Friday night, as the Mariinsky Orchestra offered the second of three concerts at Carnegie Hall under the baton of music director Valery Gergiev. Friday's concert was an all-Shostakovich program, with music director Valery Gergiev choosing to highlight two very different works.

The Concerto for Trumpet, Piano and Strings (also in the catalogue as Piano Concerto No. 1) and the Symphony No. 8 stand ten years apart. (About the only thing they have in common is their key signature: C minor.) The concerto is a youthful, early work with the same manic energy that fills his opera The Nose. The Eighth is a war symphony, written in a safe haven deep in Russia as the Nazis advance was finally halted at the year-long Battle of Stalingrad.

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.

Opera Review: It's Off...and Running

The Metropolitan Opera re-tweaks The Nose.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Doctor (Gennady Bezzubenkov) administers to the nose-less Kovalyov in a scene from The Nose.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2013 The Metropolitan Opera.

This year's Metropolitan Opera season is full of unlikely gems, revivals of opera productions that combine the best aspects of the unique and unexpected. One of those is the current revival of The Nose, the first opera from the pen of Dmitri Shostakovich. This revival marked the return of the innovative, kinetic staging by William Kentridge, whose imaginative use of multi-media and the Met's enormous stage allowed this thoroughly Russian farce to play out with the force of a titanic sneeze.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Eugene Onegin

A troika of stars open the 2013 season.
by Paul J. Pelkonen
This is the preview for Eugene Onegin. The Superconductor review of opening night can be found here.

Mariusz Kwiecien and Anna Netrebko clinch in a promotional image for Eugene Onegin.
Photo © 2013 The Metropolitan Opera.

For the third consecutive year, the Metropolitan Opera has elected to open its season with a new production tailored to the needs of soprano Anna Netrebko. Here, the dark-eyed diva stars as Tatiana in Eugene Onegin, one of Tchaikovsky's most beloved operas. Tatiana must choose between the safety of a bourgeois marriage and a whirlwind romance with the title characte, played by bari-hunk Mariusz Kwiecien. Completing the troika of stars is tenor Piotr Beczala as Lensky, Onegin’s doomed rival.

The Superconductor Fall Preview: Carnegie Hall

2013-14 at the "Hall that Music Built."
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Ronald O. Perelman Stage in the Isaac Stern Auditorium in Carnegie Hall.
Photo from carnegiehall.org.

For serious concert-going, it's hard to do better than the 2013-14 schedule that Carnegie Hall has put forth this year. From the slate of piano recitals to the first New York appearances in decades of the Vienna State Opera, this is going to be a season to remember.