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: Memories of Perestroika

Mikhail Pletnev brings the Russian National Orchestra back to Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The conductor Mikhail Pletnev at the helm of the Russian National Orchestra.
Photo provided by russiannationalorchestra.org. 

The Russian National Orchestra is a youngster among the major orchestras of the world. Formed in 1989 in the wake of Perestroika and the optimistic presidency of Mikhail Gorbachev, the RNO has been led for its entire existence by Mikhail Pletnev, a virtuoso pianist turned conductor. With all their musicians hand-picked by Mr. Pletnev, they sound quite unlike any other ensemble. Performances turn on Mr. Pletnev's maverick, occasionally puzzling interpretation choices in standard repertory, with an emphasis on Russian classics and very little in the way of modern music.

Concert Review: No Country for Forgotten Men

The ASO explores Russia's lost Jewish composers.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Big stick: the composer Anton Rubinstein on the podium. His work was played
Thursday night by the American Symphony Orchestra.
Painting by Ilya Repin.

The concert hall music of Russia has a shorter history than most, as no major composers emerged in that land until the 19th century. And yet, there are as many forgotten and neglected composers from Russia as there are trees in its vast taiga forests. On Thursday night, Leon Botstein chose four Jewish composers from Russia as the focus of a Carnegie Hall concert by the American Symphony Orchestra: Aleksandr Krein, Anton Rubinstein, Mikhail Gnesin and Maximillian Steinberg.

Riot Act: The Rite of Spring Turns 100

Reflections on Igor Stravinsky's ballet masterpiece.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Do the circumstances of a work's premiere out-weigh the importance of the work itself?

Costumes for the premiere of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring.

Igor Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps, better known in this country under its original title The Rite of Spring is one work where that is entirely possible. The Rite premiered in Paris 100 years ago, and the audience's reaction to this new music had shadowed it ever since: a near-riot of well-dressed Parisians booing, catcalling, and in more than a few cases, getting caught up in the violence of the music and assaulting their neighbors.

The cops showed up at intermission.

Concert Review: Thunder on the Steppe

The Buffalo Philharmonic plays Spring For Music.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Russian hero Ilya Muromets and his horse Burushka, as depicted in Vladimit Toropchin's
Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber © 2007 Melnitsa Animation Studio 

The great city of Buffalo, New York may be better known for its red-hot chicken wings and enthusiastic football fans than its orchestra. At Wednesday night's Spring For Music concert at Carnegie Hall, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra made a strong case for the city by Lake Ontario as a hub of musical life in upstate New York.

With a Spring in Their Step

A Preview of Spring For Music at Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

It's all about potential energy. Slinky™ is a trademark of Poof-Slinky Inc.

With the arrival of May in New York City, it's time for what has become an annual tradition: the Spring For Music Festival at Carnegie Hall. This six day event showcases orchestras from around the country playing repertory that is slightly outside the lines.

Concert Review: Rocket to Russia

Daniil Trifonov makes his New York Philharmonic debut.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Piano whiz: soloist Daniil Trifonov in action.

The New York Philharmonic opened its second subscription weekend of the 2012 season on Friday, Sept. 28 with a matinee concert featurig a triptych of Russian classics under the baton of Alan Gilbert.

The concert opened with a potent account of Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, presented here in its revised orchestration by the composer's friend Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Mr. Gilbert made full use of the wide orchestral palette, from the menacing, demonic growls of the contrabass tuba to the warm, soothing melodies played by principal flautist Michael Langevin in the work's closing pages.

In addition to showing the Philharmonic music director's podium prowess, the performance also makred the orchestra debut of 21-year old Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov. This concert marked Mr. Trifonov's second New York appearance, following a performance of the Tchaikovsky First last season with the Mariinsky Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.

For this concert, Mr. Trifonov played Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto, a work that presents serious technical challenges but also has many opportuntiies for  keyboard wizardry. Prokofiev was one of the great touring composer-pianists, and the work was written to provide thrills to his audiences in 1921.

A Serious Work of Socialist Realism.

Music by Dmitri Shostakovich. Enjoy.

Concert Review: Taking on the Titans

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall

Mr. Congenial: Garrick Ohlsson returned to Carnegie Hall
as soloist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Robert Spano brought the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra to Carnegie Hall on Saturday night with a challenging program featuring new music from composer/conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, followed by two works by Scriabin and Rachmaninoff. These late Russian Romantics, while very different musically, were classmates at the same conservatory.

The concert opened with the New York premiere of Nyx a large-scale orchestral work. Mr. Salonen wove a complex, yet clear fabric from gleaming melodic threads. The clarinet and horns tossed the main theme back and forth over a roil of sound. The music became menacing and monolithic, with bold brass writing and innovative percussion making a rich sonic experience. Predictably, it was met with polite applause. 

Although Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy premiered in New York in 1908, it remains an obscure example of late Russian romanticism. Scriabin used an unusual harmonic language in this late piece. By choosing to substitute the dissonant interval of a harmonic fourth for the usual, more tonal fifth, he created a dissonant sound-world, very much his own.

This challenging score was presented with playing of the highest caliber. Concertmaster David Coucheron unleashed the shimmering first theme, answered by a clarion call in the expanded brass section. The eight horns formed a phalanx in the orchestra, leading the charge up the score's dizzying heights. Robert Spano drove the work home, bringing in the tuba and organ to anchor an orgiastic swirl of sound. The meaning of the work may have died with Scriabin, but its impact was deeply felt.

The audience seemed happier about the second half of the program: Rachmaninoff's familiar, though fearsomely difficult Piano Concerto No. 3, featuring soloist Garrick Ohlsson. Its three movements are like that old Atari game "Pitfall!"--one wrong move and the soloist will never be heard from again.

Pitfall Harry (on rope, right) may well have understood the dangers of playing Rachmaninoff.
Image from the video game Pitfall! © 1982 Activision.

It's true that Rachmaninoff wrote the concerto for himself to play on tour and was possessed with freakishly big hands that (legend has it) could stretch a twelfth (that's an octave and a half) on the keyboard. But what makes this concerto so difficult is the interwoven nature of its writing. The conductor does more than just accompany a pretty melody--he and the orchestra get into a complicated dialogue with the soloist that sometimes verges on argument. It also calls for fearsome precision among all those trills, keyboard runs and hand-crossings, pointillist playing at full forte.

Mr. Ohlsson and Mr. Spano made a congenial team, solving the concerto's problems as they unfolded its secrets. The first movement's complicated cadenzas (where the pianist takes on the role of both orchestra and soloist, an idea first developed by the composer Alkan) held the audience breathless. The slow Intermezzo sang a sad Russian song. And the pell-mell finale, calling for the greatest degree of virtuosity from the pianist proved a thrilling experience.

After a tumultuous reception from the audience, Mr. Ohlsson returned to the keyboard. Turning to the house, he announced: "This is too famous for an introduction." Then he played a slow, loving Clair de Lune from Debussy's Suite Bergamesque. It was the perfect contrast to the Rachmaninoff, and an ideal way to end the evening.

Concert Review: A Reboot in Toon Town

The "new" Brooklyn Philharmonic debuts in Brighton Beach.
by Paul Pelkonen

That Russian version of Winnie-the-Pooh is a little...different.
Image from Vinnie-Puh Goes Visiting © 1971 Soyuzmultfilm.

On Thursday night, the newly rebooted Brooklyn Philharmonic offered its first full symphonic concert: a program of music from Russian cartoons in Brighton Beach under the baton of Alan Pierson. This was the orchestra's first full concert, designed to bring great music to the borough's diverse neighborhoods.

Concert Review: Visions of the Amber Room

Detail from a modern replica of the Amber Room
 in the Catherine Palace near St. Petersburg, Russia. 
© State Museum Preserve "Tsarskoye Selo."

The St. Petersburg Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall
In the Catherine Palace near St. Petersburg, Russia, there was a fabulous chamber called the Amber Room, a gift to Peter the Great from Frederick I of Prussia. The walls of this room were hand-crafted of polished amber, creating a unique, burnished ambiance that was called the Eighth Wonder of the World.

The Amber Room is lost to history, but its qualities of richness and warmth could be heard Wednesday night at Carnegie Hall, as the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra played the first of two dates at Carnegie Hall under the sure baton of Yuri Temirkanov. The SPPO is Russia's oldest orchestra, founded in 1882 at the order of Tsar Alexander III. They are imbued with dark, rich orchestral tone, featuring throaty brass, warm strings and woodwinds that bring a personal, questioning voice to the most challenging solo parts.

The concert opened with Kikimora, a tone poem by Antonin Liadov. Liadov was a Rimsky pupil, whose sparse output has consigned him to minor status. Kikimora is based on an equally obscure fairy tale. But the story inspired Liadov to write innovative orchestration with rich rhythms and an imaginative solo part for the English horn.

The orchestra was then joined by pianist Nicholas Lugansky for Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto. Though it does not share the Everest status of the Third, this is still a fiendishly difficult work that is challenging to bring off. Rachmaninoff possessed a formidable hand-stretch which presents difficulty for soloists playing his music.

Mr. Lugansky brought impressive physical tools and technique to the keyboard, a wide finger-stretch and a command over the pedal and liquid runs required in the first and third movements. The second movement was the highlight, a slow meditative wander through the subconscious, shot through with the melancholy melodies that are a calling card of this composer.

Yuri Temirkanov. Photo © 2009 Medici TV.

The second half of the evening was dominated by Scheherezade, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's retelling of the Arabian Nights. This is really an extended four-movement concerto for orchestra, with different soloists and groups of instruments taking the part of characters in these famous stories. The Sea and Sinbad's Ship featured eloquent violin soliloquys from concertmaster Lev Klychkov, in an engrossing call-and-response with his orchestra and Mr. Temirkanov.

Other instruments stepped to the fore as the tales spun on. The Kalandar Prince featured powerful brass playing in perfect balance with the rest of the orchestra. The Young Prince and the Princess highlighted the woodwinds. And finally the whole orchestra roared forth in a mighty voice for The Ship Breaks Against the Cliff, before coming to a transcendent, almost Wagnerian conclusion in the final bars. This spectacular performance was met with an enthusiastic reception, and the appreciative audience earned a brief, scintillating encore.

Concert Review: One Last Sacrifice

New York Philharmonic plays Stravinsky with Gergiev.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Valery Gergiev, looking remarkably like the bad guy in the Vin Diesel movie xXx.
Saturday morning marked the final performance of The Russian Stravinsky, the New York Philharmonic's three-week festival focusing on the composer and his works. At this concert, Valery Gergiev presented a fresh, completely original approach to one of Stravinsky's most familiar scores: The Rite of Spring.