Concert Review: Music of (Easy) Conscience

The New York Philharmonic opens a three-week festival to end its season.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Conductor Jaap van Zweden leading the New York Philharmonic.
Photo by Chris Lee © 2019 The New York Philharmonic.

The New York Philharmonic is in the endgame of its spring 2019 season, the orchestra's first with Jaap van Zweden as its music director. That endgame is a three week festival dedicated to "music of conscience". This loose aggregation covers symphonies and a new opera by David Lang in the coming weeks, with the connection between works being the creation of music at times of great social and political storm and stress. On Tuesday night, Mr. van Zweden led the last concert of the first program of the festival pairing pieces by Beethoven and Shostakovich. Though these two men lived in very different times and political climates, each work had the benefit of being readily familiar to even the most conservative members of the audience.

Concert Review: The Children of the Revolution

The NYO2 in concert at Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

All hands: The dapper Gil Shaham shows the tools of his trade.
He played Carnegie Hall with the NYO2 on Tuesday night.

The orchestra training initiative undertaken five years ago by Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute has been an unqualified success. On Tuesday night, as the National Youth Orchestra of the United States took the stage in a theater in China, it was the turn of NYO2, the supplementary training orchestra featuring performers from the age of 14-17 to take on the task of performing at Carnegie Hall.

Concert Review: The Next Big Thing

Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla leads the MET Orchestra.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla in action. Photo by Lawrence K. Ho.

This has been a season that the Metropolitan Opera would rather forget: one where scandal, not music-making has put the opera company in the public eye. So it was with some feeling of relief that the MET Orchestra, as the company's players are billed when giving symphony concerts at Carnegie Hall, reported to the stage of that august venue for Friday night's performance. This was the first of three performances, over the next few weeks: the last concerts of the Hall's current season.

Concert Review: The Rush of Progress

Semyon Bychkov returns to the New York Philharmonic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Conductor Semyon Bychkov returned to the New York Philharmonic this week.
Photo by Chris Lee © 2018 The New York Philharmonic.

Relationships between high-powered conductors and major orchestras can be a delicate thing. Which is why it was good this week to see the acclaimed Semyon Bychkov return to the podium at David Geffen Hall on Thursday night. This was the first concert in a two-week stand with the New York Philharmonic, which is in the last weeks of its season.

The Devil Came From Georgia

Superconductor witnesses The Death of Stalin.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

A civilizing force: Olga Kurylenko as Maria Yudina in The Death of Stalin.

The most dangerous dictator in Russian history was Josef Stalin. And unfortunately for the composers, artists and musicians who lived in the Soviet Union up until 1953, Stalin loved music. His untimely but welcome demise is the subject of the hilarious new film The Death of Stalin by director Armando Ianucci. This review is not going to focus on the film itself, which is a startling, smart and well-written black comedy. But this isn't a conventional movie review: this is Superconductor. And we're going to talk about Comrade Stalin and the music in the movie.

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.

Concert Review: A Certain Sense of Drama

Andris Nelsons and the BSO take Leningrad.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Andris Nelsons at the helm of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Photo by Marco Borggreve © 2016 Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Andris Nelsons is in his third year at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the fiery Latvian conductor has been nothing but good for this august ensemble. On Tuesday night, Mr. Nelsons led the first of three Carnegie Hall concerts this week. He opened his New York run with an ambitious pairing: a new concerto by Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina and the longest symphony by Dmitri Shostakovich: the Seventh.

Twelve Days Under the Rising Sun

An Overview of Hearing Japanese Orchestras
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Fujiyama from the Shin-kan-sen. Photo by the author.

The 2017 Hearing Japanese Orchestras project provided the opportunity for four Western critics, (myself included) to encounter the sound of five very different ensembles in very different cities. It was also a culturally immersive experience, my first visit to Japan and an opportunity to hear familiar and unfamiliar music presented at a generally high level.

The Year in Reviews 2016: Recitals and Chamber Music

We look at the best intimate concerts of a troubled 2016.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Danish String Quartet played last works by Shostakovich and Schubert, a highlight
of 2016. Photo © 2016 The Danish String Quartet.

2016 may have been a difficult year, with a lot of musical high points. Here, Superconductor cherry-picks the ten best small scale vocal recitals, chamber concerts and piano recitals of the year that was, presented in chronological order. All hyperlinks connect to Superconductor reviews written by Paul J. Pelkonen.

Concert Review: A Farewell to Childhood

Daniil Trifonov returns to Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Daniil Trifonov in performance at the Verbier Festival.
Photo by Nicolas Brodard © 2016 The Verbier Festival.

To track the evolution of an artist is an extraordinary thing. For the Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov. Mr. Trifonov made his Carnegie Hall debut at 22. On Wednesday night he returned to that famous venue with a blazing recital that indicates his evolution from boy virtuoso to an extraordinary, adult artist. Adding to the sense of the occasion were cameras from medici.tv, making the performance available for viewing by an international audience (for free through March 7, 2017.)

Concert Review: Brothers From the Same Quartet

The Emerson String Quartet celebrates forty years.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

The members of the Emerson String Quartet, past and present: Philip Setzer, Paul Watkins
former cellist David Finckel, Eugene Drucker, Lawrence Dutton.
Original photo by Lisa Marie Mazzucco, © Sony Classical. Photoshop by the author.

The Emerson String Quartet is among the most storied of American Chamber music ensembles, having thrilled listeners for four decades with their clean, bright-edged sound and a preference for brisk and efficient music making. On Sunday afternoon, the Emersons played the second of two concerts at Alice Tully Hall this weekend. The occasion: to celebrate the beginning of the 2016-17 season of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and to celebrate four decades of music-making with the release of a mammoth 53-disc box chronicling the ensembles' complete recorded catalogue for Deutsche Grammophon.

Concert Review: The Prodigy and the Proletarian

The Belcea Quartet play Schubert and Shostakovich.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Belcea Quartet (Corina Belcea, Axel Schacher, violins,
Antoine Lederlin, cello, Krzysztof Chorzelski, viola) in concert. Photo courtesy Carnegie Hall.

Although they lived in very different times, there are some parallels between the composers Franz Peter Schubert and Dmitri Shostakovich. Both men composed from a very early age. They lived in troubled, though very different eras, and faced incredible odds. For Schubert, his demon was a protracted and fatal illness that claimed his life at 32. Shostakovich's enemies were depression and the unpredictable political environment of Soviet Russia, where one false move could have fatal consequences.

Concert Review: Don't Mention the War

The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra marches on Leningrad.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

A propaganda poster during the Siege of Leningrad.
It says "Everybody, rise to defend Leningrad."

The Siege of Leningrad during what the Russians call the Great Patriotic War (and what the rest of the world calls World War II) was a case of unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. German troops marched on the city in 1941 and besieged it for 900 days. During that epic siege, composer Dmitri Shostakovich conceived and completed his Symphony No. 7, working in the city as it was under fire and ultimately finishing the work at a dacha to the east.

Concert Review: Sad Tales, Best for Winter

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

Franz Welser-Möst led the Cleveland Orchestra on Sunday night at Carnegie Hall.
Photo by Steve J. Sherman © 2015 Carnegie Hall.

The arrival of the Cleveland Orchestra at Carnegie Hall on Sunday coincided with the first brittle snow to land on New York this winter, a glittering and skittering fall that made the air sharp and cold and footing treacherous on the sidewalks. That made getting to the Hall that Music Built for Sunday evening's concert an effort. Those who made the trek were well rewarded by one of the most ambitious concert programs of this new year: a new work paired with Shostakovich's under-performed Symphony No. 4 in C minor.

Concert Review: Husbands, Wives and Dictators

Alan Gilbert conducts the New York Philharmonic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Husband and wife: Lisa Batiashvili (left) and oboist François Leleux.
Photo courtesy the New York Philharmonic.

Wednesday night at the New York Philharmonic was no ordinary concert. This is the last time that New York gets to hear its hometown band until May, as the orchestra is about to embark on a massive European tour. Also, it occurred following the appointment of Frank Huang as the band's new concertmaster, a post that will begin in the Fall. Finally, it marked the U.S. premiere of Thierry Escaich's Concerto for Violin and Oboe, sandwiched between works by Bach and Shostakovich.

Concert Review: The Weight of the War

Jaap van Zweden leads the Shostakovich Eighth. 
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Conductor Jaap van Zweden returned to the New York Philharmonic.
Photo © 2014 The Dallas Symphony Orchestra

The Dutch conductor Jaap van Zweden has built a steady reputation in recent years, both with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (where he serves as music director) and a series of yearly guest visits to the New York Philharmonic. On Friday afternoon, Mr. van Zweiden led the latter orchestra in a program of Mozart and Shostakovich, contrasting the former's Sinfonia Concertante with the latter's heavyweight Symphony No. 8.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District

The Met brings the Shostakovich opera back for the first time in 14 years.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

That's no moon...A scene from Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District.
Photo by Winnie Klotz © 2000 The Metropolitan Opera.

The Met revives the opera that outraged Josef Stalin, triggered the Soviet artistic purges of the 1930s, and forced Shostakovich to withdraw his Fourth Symphony.

Concert Review: The Power of Turbulence

Pablo Heras-Casado debuts with the Philharmonic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Pablo Heras-Casado. Photo by Javier de Real © 2014 pabloherascasado.com

The New York Philharmonic continued its current run of successful guest conductors last week with the arrival of Pablo Heras-Casado. Now 36, Mr. Heras-Casado is currently serving as Principal Conductor of the neighboring Orchestra of St. Luke's. On Friday morning, the conductor led the third concert in this week's program. The slate of works played to this orchestra's considerable strengths, with three tonal masterworks drawn from the troubled middle years of the 20th century.

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.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: The Nose

The Shostakovich comedy is back for another run.
(For the Superconductor review of The Nose, visit this link.) by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Nose makes a run for it as the Met revives William Kentridge's 2010 production.
Image © 2010 The Metropolitan Opera.

Opera fans, rejoice: the beezer is back.

The Nose, based on a story by Nikolai Gogol is Shostakovich's first opera, a wild, absurdist comedy that recounts the story of Kovalyov, an unfortunate bureaucrat (Paulo Szot, reprising his performance from 2010) who receives an unexpected total rhinectomy from his barber one morning.