New York Philharmonic - Lorin Maazel

Saturday March 7 - Hill Auditorium 

The New York Philharmonic is an extremely talented set of musicians, and it was certainly a joy to hear such a large group of people who can act in such a cohesive way to deliver emotion.  This concert series was part of the final 10 city tour featuring Lorin Maazel as director.  He will be retiring from this post later this year.  Other cities include Atlanta, West Palm Beach, Naples, Sarasota, Miami, San Juan, Chapel Hill, Danville, and Chicago.  Saturday's concert was a set of especially approachable numbers and "Pictures" is one of my favorite works.

Mendelssohn - Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream

This is a great piece opens with a passage depicting Puck and his faeries.  It is entirely performed by the violins  and Maestro Maazel's tempo was brisk and that musical moment is both demanding and complex.  That said, this opening volley was the first and only disappointment of the night.  The upper strings were not all in-line with their sixteenth notes on their first pass.  Noted improvement came in the second and third capitulation.  

Toward the middle of this work there is a wonderful "hee-haw" theme depicting the actor turned to Donkey in the play.  The orchestra had certainly settled into the hall and into the work.  I was especially amazed with the sound of the double basses.  Pizzacato moments sounded as one large instrument.  There are also so many many reasons that strings can buzz but to hear a section full of 8 skilled players without a single buzz is truly a rare thing, and a superb joy.  

Shumann - Symphony No. 4 in d minor, Op. 120

This was performed with the four movements attacca (without pause between).  The work is a great one and this really shows the artistry of the performers.

Intermission

Mussorgsky Arr. Ravel - Pictures at an Exhibition

Mussorgsky wrote a piece for solo piano that depicts a viewer in an art gallery traveling from work to work.   Each movement is a new work of art, and the interstitial movements describe the lumbering viewer going between the art.  The work was not well known when written in 1874, as a piano solo work by Mussorgsky.  Later the piano piece was found by Ravel who decides to orchestrate it first performed in 1922.  This is the most famous re-working of music that I know of.  Ravel's vision of the music fully realized into full orchestra in my mind transcends the original work.

I was amazed by the speed at which some of the most difficult wind passages were taken by Maazel.  His oboes, and flutes were able to keep up and the outcome was better then any recording of the work I had heard.  I was able to keep the track of the longer rythmic sections instead of hearing the individual notes within a given flourish.  Brilliant indeed.  I had have heard the work many times and this approach was new and wonderful.

The Old Castle (2nd movement) features the alto saxaphone, which never really catches on as an orchestral instrument.  In this concert the tone produced was impressive, clear and consistent.  Certainly nothing forward or biting yet still a true sax sound.  

The brass certainly get their moment in the sun in the Catacombs (12th movement) and were the New York Philharmonic brass prepared.  A great testament to the excellence of the horns, and I am a personal fan of the trombone and tuba parts within this movement.  

During the Great Gate of Kiev (the last movement) the entire orchestra was clearly on one page with Maazel.  His emotion came through the triplet violin moments, the lower brass foundation and all were prepared for glory.  By this part of the piece it is clear that Mussorgsky is Russian and this is a royal Russian procession.  I can't help but to see fur hats, and marching Russians.  What a wonderful evening of music.

For more information on this work see this excellent summary.

Encore #1 - Unknown

I wish I knew what was played, but it was fast and grand.

Dvorak - New World Symphony Movement 4 (Encore #2)

It sure was fun to hear this group play this well known movement.  Excellently executed, and leaving us all wishing for more.