Reviewed by Bill Breakstone, November 28, 2010
The Spanish conductor Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos has been a busy man in America this year. He filled in for James Levine at Tanglewood over the summer for several engagements, has assignments with the orchestras of Philadelphia, Boston, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Montreal, Cincinnati and Houston later in the season, and this week took over the podium at The Philharmonic for four varied programs. On Friday night, he conducted works by Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Debussy and Stravinsky.
Glinka’s Overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla opened the program, a rousing allegro, always a crowd-pleaser. The tempo was a bit on the fast side, but the orchestra followed attentively, it’s playing superb. Next, the brilliant Greek violin virtuoso Leonidas Kavakos joined the forces for a performance on Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major. Kavakos is as fine a fiddler performing today. His pacing in the opening Allegro Moderato was exactly that, beautifully accompanied by the conductor and orchestra. Intensity and fire picked up in the cadenza, and all brought the movement to a rousing conclusion. The lyrical second movement Canzonetta was lovingly rendered, and the fireworks returned at a much brisker tempo in the Finale. The audience broke into rapturous applause, and was rewarded by a sober, beautifully played rendition of a movement from Eugene Ysaye’s Bach-inspired Sonata for Solo Violin.
After the interval, Fruhbeck de Burgos turned to two orchestral showpieces, the first Claude Debussy’s three Nocturnes. These expositions of orchestral timbre and color were magnificently performed, assisted by the Women of the New York Choral Artists. The work was a favorite of Leonard Bernstein, but this performance was as sumptuous as I have ever heard. The program concluded with the Suite from The Firebird by Stravinsky. The pacing was just right, the orchestral playing magnificent, and the Philharmonic never sounded better. What a treasure this orchestra is, and how lucky is New York to have such fabulous ensembles as this and The Met Orchestra on its doorstep.
The Saturday matinee was one of the annual Philharmonic programs that features first chair instrumentalists performing a chamber music work. Avery Fisher Hall may not be the perfect setting for this genre, but what a pleasure to hear such consummate artists as Glenn Dichterow, Michelle Kim, Cynthia Phelps, Rebecca Young and Carter Brey play Mozart’s G Minor Quintet, K. 516, as fine a chamber work as he ever conceived. And what obvious pleasure these performers had in playing this masterpiece. It is one of Mozart’s compositions that begs the question “what if?” The first three somber and chromatic movements and the adagio introduction to the finale are all in the minor mode, and are precursors to Beethoven’s more mature chamber writings; only in the Allegro finale does the composer switch to a major tonality.
After intermission, the rather full orchestra reassembled on stage for Haydn’s Military Symphony, No. 100 in G Major. Fruhbeck de Burgos led a brisk-paced, elegant reading of this “London Symphony,” enjoying every minute of this joy of symphonic creation. The concert concluded with the Tchaikovsky Concerto. Quite a workout for both the orchestra and conductor. We New Yorkers need to see more of this fine musician in the future.
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