A Weird New York Philharmonic Concert

[Ralph]

Very, very rarely have I walked out of a concert while the music was being performed but I did last night at Avery Fisher Hall.

Alan Gilbert, the son of two NYP violinists (his mom's still there) and a violinist himself, guest conducted. He's a young man who has garnered some good reviews elsewhere. He was supposed to make his debut with the Philharmonic a year or so ago but his wife was about to give birth and that was, I fully agree, a higher priority. I wish he had had another one yesterday.

The concert began with Dvorak's "The Noon Witch." The playing seemed to have no coherent end-it fizzled out after less than distinguished playing. Barber's Cello Concerto was well-performed by NYP Principal Cello Carter Brey and the orchestra rallied to support their colleague. Larry Rinkel, who was with me for dinner and the concert, didn't care for this work but I did. I thought it a complex and rewarding challenge for the soloist.

After intermission, Dutilleux's Mystery of the Moment for Strings, Cimbalom, and Percussion. Didn't do zip for me.

Before the concert a professional composer, a young man who works at Avery Fisher as an usher, told me that the night before when the orchestra performed the final work, Haydn's Symphony No. 90, the audience twice broke into applause before the work ended, lulled I thought by the composer's sometimes surprising endings.

But what happened last night was that at two points - in the third movement and the last - Gilbert unnecessarily gave the beat with a downward motion and stopped, initiating applause. Each time he turned around to the audience laughing as if he (and Haydn?) had pulled off a joke. The joke was lost on me so I got up and left after the second round of clapping (I have an aisle seat so I bothered no one).

A very strange evening.

[Michael]

I would most certainly have done the same Ralph....wherever I happened to be sitting....

[Lance]

It doesn't sound like the orchestra was very much interested in their conductor either - did you get that feeling? Maybe they weren't happy to have him in front of them either. How sad to experience an evening with such a great orchestra as the NYP. Was it a good, full house? Did you see anybody else walk out? As you know, sometimes during intermissions, one can get a distinct "feeling" about a conductor or music from just listening to comments walking around.

I feel bad for you. Wish I could send a Dittersdorf disc to you, one that you don't have, to help make you happier!

[Werner]

As for Lance's question, I never saw as many empty seats at a Philharmonic concert as in the second half last night. Perhaps there were some reasons:

The Dvorak work was played for the first time by the Philharmonic. It had some characteristic Dvorak touches but my feeling was that if they don't play it again for the next hundred years it won't be missed.

I've been a fan of Carter Brey since I heard him win the Young Concert Artists Auditions long ago. His debut recital the next season showed such powers of projection that I thought this is a star building. And I've herad him since, and of course since he's been the Philharmonmic's principal cellist. But I must say that the Barber concerto didn't do much for me.Perhaps I should know it better.

The Dutilleux was interesting - much in the way of Messiaen - something I haven't abosorbed but would willingly hear again.

The Haydn, I thought, was the program's capstone. Well played - but it proves that I didn't know it well enough, since I got caught in the premature applause trap - twice! (Even though Tommasini had mentioned this problem in his generally favorable review.)

I can understand that Ralph has been to more convincing performances. So have I. But I thought the Haydn served as a bonbon - for all my failure to be alert in the last movement.

[Ralph]

It doesn't sound like the orchestra was very much interested in their conductor either - did you get that feeling? Maybe they weren't happy to have him in front of them either. How sad to experience an evening with such a great orchestra as the NYP. Was it a good, full house? Did you see anybody else walk out? As you know, sometimes during intermissions, one can get a distinct "feeling" about a conductor or music from just listening to comments walking around.

I feel bad for you. Wish I could send a Dittersdorf disc to you, one that you don't have, to help make you happier!

*****

Well, I can't expect every concert to be great.

A few people left at intermission and a few more with the Haydn "ending." Overall the house was full. But again I noted that my two subscription seats were surrounded by rows of teens, obviously on a graduation or a band/orchestra trip. I hadn't realized until a subscription concert or two ago that virtually all the seats around me weren't sold to subscribers. That says something about sales these days.

I don't know how the orchestra feels about Gilbert. Since they worked with his parents I assume they'd at least enjoy having a "family member" lead them. But I could be wrong about that.

[Alban Berg]

What actually happened was this. The finale to the Haydn is written in sonata form, with repeats notated in the score for both the first part (the exposition) and the second part (the development/recapitulation). It is very common in today's performing practice to repeat first parts, not so common to repeat second parts - especially as the ending to the second part in #90 sounds very "final" and omitting the repeat would do little damage. However, Gilbert repeated part two unexpectedly, and then having done that, repeated part two once more in a truncated version. So there was no question of a "false ending," as Tommasini falsely claimed in his review, and which five minutes' consultation with the score would have clarified. (Tommasini also missed the most interesting aspect of the performance, the effective way the solo flute and oboe were encouraged to ornament their lines, particularly in the minuet.) Somehow, though, Gilbert wasn't quite able to pull off his little joke in the finale; either his body language or his shaping of the ending suggested he was stopping the piece rather than going on, and I was half out the door before repeat #2.

As for the rest, I thought the Dvorak to be a very weak piece, and the Barber nearly put me to sleep in the slow movement. I just don't understand Barber's reputation, beyond one or two pieces like the justly popular Adagio. Carter Brey was fine. I thought the beautiful Dutilleux piece was given the most successful performance, though I felt here as I do with some other pieces of his (like the new violin piece recorded recently by A-S Mutter) that the ending didn't quite work.

I did not find it a very satisfying program on the whole.

[Ralph]

It seems that Alban and my erudite friend, Larry Rinkel, came to much the same conclusion as I did but each explained it (either online or to me) differently.

[herman]

I don't know how the orchestra feels about Gilbert. Since they worked with his parents I assume they'd at least enjoy having a "family member" lead them. But I could be wrong about that.

It doesn't always have to work that way. I get the feeling orchestra players don't always like to have conductor who's from their ranks originally.

One of the Concertgebouw former leaders, Jaap van Zweeden, has been building a conducting career since the early nineties. Sometime ago he conducted the Concertgebouw for the first time (AFAIK); it was a true failure, and I think some form of passive aggressive resentment on the part of the orchestra may be part of it. "So you think you're the big guy now, huh?" Mind you, this is all speculation on my part.

[Ralph]

I don't know how the orchestra feels about Gilbert. Since they worked with his parents I assume they'd at least enjoy having a "family member" lead them. But I could be wrong about that.

It doesn't always have to work that way. I get the feeling orchestra players don't always like to have conductor who's from their ranks originally.

One of the Concertgebouw former leaders, Jaap van Zweeden, has been building a conducting career since the early nineties. Sometime ago he conducted the Concertgebouw for the first time (AFAIK); it was a true failure, and I think some form of passive aggressive resentment on the part of the orchestra may be part of it. "So you think you're the big guy now, huh?" Mind you, this is all speculation on my part.

*****

Gilbert never played in the Philharmonic.