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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000060.txt from 2006/09
From: Jackie Kovach <jl.kovach@-----.net>
Subj: [DR-L] NY Philharmonic review
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2006 08:33:51 -0400
Dear List,
I thought you'd like to read this, especially the last paragraph.
MUSIC REVIEW
Philharmonic Returns With Mild Celebration
By JAMES R. OESTREICH
Published: September 15, 2006
The New York Philharmonic opened its 165th season and observed the =20
fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on Wednesday evening by =20
reviving John Adams=92s =93On the Transmigration of Souls,=94 =
commissioned =20
by the orchestra to commemorate the attacks and given its premiere in =20=
2002.
The orchestra=92s opening program made a statement, all right, as =20
opening programs inherently must, and it was meek: =93Don=92t worry. =20
We=92ll give you what we think you want to hear. Be happy.=94
There was a faint and conventional bow toward heroism, in Beethoven=92s =20=
=93Egmont=94 Overture and =93Eroica=94 Symphony, works that were indeed =20=
revolutionary and heroic when they were new, two centuries ago. But =20
not to push that heroic theme too far either, the rest was diversion: =20=
Mozart=92s Concerto for Two Pianos. And this unimaginative programming =20=
for a national television audience, though PBS=92s wishes may have been =20=
part of the problem.
What if the Adams piece (no deathless masterpiece but a thought-=20
provoking and emotionally compelling exercise) had been packaged =20
between the =93Egmont=94 and the =93Eroica=94? What a New York moment.
But that, for one thing, would have eliminated the soloists the =20
Philharmonic evidently feels it needs to draw a well-heeled opening-=20
night audience. And those soloists were excellent, Emanuel Ax and =20
Yefim Bronfman: Mr. Ax, in particular, was thoroughly in his element =20
in Mozart. True, this kind of toothless celebration is common among =20
performing groups around the country. But should the mighty New York =20
Philharmonic aspire to be just another orchestra?
Even when the Adams was new, Lorin Maazel (in his first season as =20
music director, admittedly, when he may not have had total say) did =20
not see fit to put it on the opening program. He held it out for the =20
first subscription series, just as, this week, the premiere of =20
=93Sebastian im Traum,=94 a Philharmonic commission from the renowned =20=
Hans Werner Henze, was shunted aside to the current subscription series.
The season=92s big statement, a Brahms festival including all the =20
symphonies and the =93German Requiem,=94 is hardly bold. Mr. Maazel did =20=
all the Brahms symphonies and concertos at Carnegie Hall with the =20
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2003.
When Mr. Maazel arrived at the Philharmonic, critical concern =20
centered on his hard-won reputation for interpretive willfulness. =20
That concern has been largely borne out over the years, as it was =20
again on Wednesday, especially in the =93Eroica,=94 with slashing =
accents =20
that undercut forward momentum and with swoons into sentimentality.
But who could have expected that this indomitable personality and =20
brilliant musician, having reached what he seems to regard as the =20
pinnacle of his long career, would simply abdicate any leadership =20
role, civic or artistic, for himself and for the orchestra in New =20
York musical life? How long must we nod knowingly at Virgil Thomson=92s =20=
dismissal of the Philharmonic in 1940 as being irrelevant to the =20
intellectual life of the city?
Musically, in any case, the orchestra sounded like a great ensemble =20
still getting its sea legs in the new season. Liang Wang, the new =20
principal oboist, played his extended solos in the slow movement of =20
the =93Eroica=94 beautifully.
----------------------
Jacqueline Kovach, oboe
Temple University Music Prep faculty
Community College of Philadelphia, adjunct faculty
http://geocities.com/briankovach19126
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