Concert Review: Journey Into Imagination

Jeremy Denk returns to Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Jeremy Denk and friends.
Photo © Nonesuch Records

Since making his New York recital debut in 1997, the pianist Jeremy Denk has led audiences on fearless explorations of some pretty dark corners of the standard repertory. On Friday night at Carnegie Hall, Mr. Denk concluded his current American recital tour with a slate of concert fare by major composers that is, well, not obscure, but--let's say stuff that you don't hear programmed that often.

Turn Around and Take Me Back To the Start

Some reflections on Beethoven, the Eroica and my summer vacation.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Detail from The Knight in Shining Armor: Pity and Ambition
by Gustav Klimt as appears on the cover of the Beethoven Symphony No. 3 recording reviewed herein.
Art and rendering © 1987 DG/UMG

Hi all. I'm back after a relaxing, grounding and enervating week in the woods of Northern Maryland. Today we are talking about Beethoven, and specifically a new to me recording of the Eroica Symphony which I am listening to as I type. This is an old (but new to me) recording of Beethoven's 'Eroica' Symphony, made in 1987 by the Vienna Philharmonic. No, that's not terribly "old" in a business with historic recordings that go back to the turn of the 20th century, but it is definitely the product of another time. The conductor is the late and brilliant Claudio Abbado, who would later record these same symphonies in his job as music director of the Berlin Philharmonic is the conductor here and there is much of interest in this performance.

Concert Review: The Grand Master

Bernard Haitink returns to the New York Philharmonic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Bernard Haitink celebrates 60 years on the podium this season.
Photo by Creutziger courtesy New York Philharmonic

The New York Philharmonic celebrates Bernard Haitink's sixtieth year as an orchestra conductor this month, inviting the 85-year old Dutch maestro to Avery Fisher Hall for two weeks of concerts. On Saturday night, Mr. Haitink capped the first of his two concert programs with a program divided neatly between the Second Viennese School and Ludwig van Beethoven.

Concert Review: A Few Words for the Dead

Christoph von Dohnányi returns to Philadelphia.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Christoph von Dohnányi Photo by Pala de André © The Ravenna Festival.

The Hungarian conductor Christoph von Dohnányi is back on Broad Street for a two-week stand leading the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Kimmel Center. The first of these programs (seen on Friday evening) focused on music related to funeral rites and personal grief. Somber classics by Mozart and Beethoven were matched with the Funeral Music of Witold Lutoslawski, the Polish composer who was a leading post-war exponent of the twelve-tone method.


The Funeral Music is just fifteen minutes, featuring only the string players. the Philadelphians responded with the rich, velvety sound that remains this orchestra’s trademark, unfolding the complex tone-rows and repeated musical patterns that emerge over four movements. Mr. Dohnányi led a clear, precise performance, proving to listeners that a century after its invention, there is no reason to be afraid of music written with twelve tones.

Orchestra and conductor were joined by pianist Rudolf Buchbinder for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in d minor. This is Mozart’s most  experimental concerto, with a melancholy opening that is answered almost philosophically from the keyboard. Mr. Buchbinder played the complex emotional development of the first movement (itself  influential on the composition style of Beethoven) with intelligence and grace, maintaining a close rapport with the conductor

The pianist skated smoothly through the central slow movement, trickling out melodic  lines with a limpid touch that was answered with perfect  clarity from conductor and orchestra. These artists were in close accord in the fast finale, racing through the repeats of the rondo in a performance that lifted this work out of the emotional doldrums. Just before launching the first phrases of the quickstep coda, Mr. Dohnányi locked eyes with Mr. Buchbinder. They then played the last phrases with a glee that evoked two much younger men out to perpetrate mischief in their music.

The Eroica Symphony is a Philadelphia Orchestra staple, making regular appearances on programs at the Kimmel Center and elsewhere. In this performance, Mr. Von Dohnányi ’s leadership was light-footed but never light-weight. The big dramatic moments in the score were present but not overplayed, and there was exquisite attention to detail in the lesser known sections that allowed listeners to hear this familiar work Ina new and exciting way.

Of particular note: the second movement, a slow Marcia funebre that saw the composer break new symphonic ground in using this military musical form to portray fallen heroism in sound. Most heroic of all: the mammoth central fugue with horns an cellos seeming to weep openly before coalescing with trumpets and violas  in a descending figure that Richard Wagner later borrowed for the Grail march in Parsifal.

Though this theme appears only briefly in the central section of the March, it returns, radically transformed in the following Scherzo. In fact it's the bedrock rhythm of this mad dance, which is interrupted only by exuberant, interjecting horns. The famous finale with its "Prometheus" theme was played with an attention that made the glowing counterpoint sound almost like Bach. Mr. von Dohnányi and the players were enthusiastic as the final notes were reached, putting shoulder to the wheel and driving the big final moment to an uplifting conclusion.

Concert Review: Before the Tour, an Eroica

Lisa Batiashvili.
Photo by Mark Harrison © BBC Music Magazine.

Beethoven and Bartók at the Philharmonic
In two years as music director of the New York Philharmonic, Alan Gilbert has established himself as a force for modernism, expanding the appeal of the venerated orchestra through experimental programming and bold initiatives. This week's one-two punch of Bartók's Second Violin Concerto and Beethoven's Eroica Symphony may not be among his most innovative, but it made for one of the strongest concerts of the season.

The Bartók concerto led off the evening, featuring skilled Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili in the complex solo part. Bartók conceived an extended monologue for the instrument, interspersed with occasional dialogue between the soloist and the orchestra. He incorporated microtonalities, Hungarian folk-songs and unearthly orchestrations to make an original statement for the violim and orchestra.

Ms. Batiashvili displayed formidable technique, bowing the long legato lines with a smooth action and then leading the listener up dizzying spiral staircases of scales. She doublestopped with speed and authority. As she raced along, the notes on paper sounded like a stream of consciousness, bubbling forth over the orchestra.

Sometimes, the violin would waltz like a frantic Gypsy. At others, it droned like a hurdy-gurdy at a street fair. The slow movement, with the atmospheric, almost impressionist use of low strings and triangle, contained some of the finest music-making of the evening. Throughout, the soloist maintained a complex interaction with Mr. Gilbert and his orchestra, and their rapport was exciting to watch and listen to.

Beethoven's Third Symphony represented a vast expansion of the form. Nearly twice as long as any symphony before it, the Eroica travels a wide range of emotions in its journey. Beethoven wasn't writing program music here, but the opening one-two combination of the questing first movement and the somber funeral march remains a potent experience.

The Philharmonic played this landmark symphony with robust energy, led by a dancing, exhorting Mr. Gilbert. He conducted from memory. Tempos were a little static in the first movement, and the funeral march positively crawled under its own weight. In the final pages before the coda, Mr. Gilbert let his orchestra loose in a paroxysm of minor-key grief that rent the heart.

Beethoven lightened up in the last two movements, although the manic energy of the dance movement seemed almost forced after the funeral march. Although the whirling scherzo was marred by some dodgy tones from the Philharmonic horns, the movement was played with sunny energy and determination to move on from the funeral procession.

The finale, with its pizzicato theme and variations remains one of the most exciting experiences one can have in a concert hall. As the final brass chords of Beethoven's grand second theme rang out, Mr. Gilbert brought this performance to an heroic end.