This time, a substitute for Yannick

[Ricordanza]

Eight months ago, Jaap Van Zweden had been scheduled to be the guest conductor of one of the Philadelphia Orchestra concerts on my schedule, but cancelled due to family reasons. In his place, music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin stepped in for a very satisfying evening.

On Monday, December 2, the announcement came by email that Yannick would not be conducting Thursday night’s program; a sinus condition kept him from travelling. Bad news for Yannick fans, like myself, but good news about his substitute: one of the leading conductors of the day, Michael Tilson Thomas, longtime music director of the San Francisco Symphony. It was hard to be displeased about this choice.

Scheduled piano soloist Hélène Grimaud remained on the schedule, but changed her piece from Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 to Brahms 1. Why? Didn’t practice the former? Decided she didn’t like the piece anymore? Nothing like that. According to a newspaper article, she had “promised” Yannick that when she next performed Brahms 2, it would be with him. Seems a little odd to me, but a promise is a promise, and I certainly admire both works (even if I had just heard Brahms 1 at that April concert when Yannick was the substitute and the superb Garrick Ohlsson was the soloist).

But enough about this shuffling of conductors and programs; on to the music, and it was clearly a great night of music making. Brahms 1 is, essentially, a symphony for piano and orchestra, rich with the emotion of passionate yearning and some of the most gorgeous writing for piano in any concerto (and some of the most difficult, as I could clearly observe from my left-side seat in the Orchestra section). I hadn’t previously formed a strong impression of Grimaud, having heard her in concert only once before in a concerto that does not really resonate with me (Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major). This time, however, she played one of my favorite works, and brought everything one could want to the piece as well as her own individual touches—I was particularly intrigued by her subtly flexible tempos in some passages. With MTT’s expert collaboration (I won’t say accompaniment because it’s not that kind of concerto), it was a most enjoyable performance.

The only other piece on the program was that warhorse of warhorses, Hector Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique. According to the program notes, a survey by the League of American Orchestras found that in the 1990’s, this work emerged as the most frequently performed orchestral work in the United States. And why not? There’s good reason why the Symphonie Fantastique remains a work that fascinates audiences: five movements of incredible musical imagination, amazing orchestration, wonderful solo displays, and the whole immensely varied work held together, somehow, by the vividly portrayed story line and the recurring love motif. MTT led an absolutely rip-roaring performance of this work, and the audience responded in kind. Forget profundity or deep meanings or “new insights.” Let’s face it--this work is fun. Now it may not be that much fun for the players, who Berlioz tests to their limits, or for the conductor, who must produce a coherent ensemble sound from a score of tremendous complexity. But the end result, if played right, is clearly an audience pleaser, and on Thursday night, the Philadelphians played it right.
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[lennygoran]

But the end result, if played right, is clearly an audience pleaser, and on Thursday night, the Philadelphians played it right.
.

That Berlioz work and the Brahms sure would please me--I love both those works! Regards, Len

[jbuck919]

A sinus condition kept him from traveling? Sounds like Rommel's famous excuse for not being at the Battle of the Kasserine Pass: Severe nasal diphtheria, whatever that was supposed to mean. I guess people just have a hard time admitting that a bad cold is a temporarily disabling thing and need to say something else to get sympathy. I've been there.

[Ricordanza]

A sinus condition kept him from traveling? Sounds like Rommel's famous excuse for not being at the Battle of the Kasserine Pass: Severe nasal diphtheria, whatever that was supposed to mean. I guess people just have a hard time admitting that a bad cold is a temporarily disabling thing and need to say something else to get sympathy. I've been there.

According to the announcement, Yannick was under doctor's orders not to travel due to his condition. It was probably a specific order about air travel. I can believe that--several years ago, I was "grounded" by a doctor due to a bilateral ear infection; the changes in air pressure could be harmful. But it wasn't so bad--I was "stuck" in Florida for a few more days before I was cleared to fly back to the cold North!