It’s been a while since I caught up with New York Repertory Orchestra (David Leibowitz, Conductor)—I didn’t pay attention enough in the fall, and their winter concert was just unpleasant enough weather-wise to keep me home. Spring sprung and I finally made it. Parts of the program were completely unfamiliar, one I knew that I knew, and one I knew once we got into the meat of the piece.
Jagiellonian Triptych – Preambulum: Vivace, Cantio: Adagietto, Chorea polonica: Allegro non troppo (1966); Andrzej Panufnik (1914–1991)
Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35 – Allegro moderato, Canzonetta: Andante, Finale: Allegro vivacissimo (1811); Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
“Waltz” from Sleeping Beauty; Tchaikovsky
Symphony No. 3, Op. 33 – Andante lamentando – Agitato, Andante tranquillo, Tempo scherzando, Largamente e pesante (1936-1938); Howard Hanson (1896–1981)
The first piece, for string orchestra, was written in a style intended to bring to mind restorations of music from Poland’s past, in this case, the Jagiellonian age (14th to 16th centuries). New music in an old style. The first movement was full, brief and quite pleasant. The second had a quiet opening, and remained calm throughout. The final movement had pizzicato strings at the beginning, followed by a nice build, with a grand and expansive finish. This was a nice way to begin the concert.
Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto was recognizable immediately upon hearing the opening theme. Overall, the first movement created a positive feeling, and the soloist, Oliver Fluchaire, played with an energetic and polished flair, becoming even more energetic with the return of the embellished theme. His wide-ranging cadenza was lengthy but very interesting. The second movement opened with woodwinds to start, followed by a melancholy, but beautiful, violin theme. In fact, that sort of describes the entire movement, which via attacca (no real break) led right into the third movement, where multiple themes were tossed back and forth between soloist and orchestra. The applause for Mr. Fluchaire was marred only by the boorish woman who insisted on taking photos even though there was a notice in the program to completely turn off all electronic devices. Why, yes, she did tick me off.
After intermission, we had a lagniappe with the Tchaikovsky waltz, and a guest conductor, Soyoung Joung. As explained from the front of the church, Ms. Joung won a conducting engagement as a prize at the orchestra’s recent fundraising event. She acquitted herself very well.
Howard Hanson is an American composer with strong ties to the Eastman School of Music. The first movement of his symphony was pleasant, if a bit meandering, gaining interest when the trombones played a chorale theme, and gaining more interest in the agitato section. It ended with a sense of expectancy. My notes for the second movement simply say, open, American(a) sound. The third opened with timpani and brass, leading to the rest of the orchestra in rhythmic and tuneful sections, always with an undercurrent in the timpani. After a large crescendo, it still had rhythmic tension from the low brass and low strings. In the last movement, the brash tuba and woodwinds flourish supposedly led to a recurrence of the earlier chorale tune but it didn’t quite come through for me.
So, it was an okay experience but not one that I would look forward to excitedly again. As always, though, I’m happy to broaden my horizons. The full orchestra and the violin soloist, especially, suffered slightly from the very live (almost over-reverberating) acoustics in the church. All in all, a good experience, and I’m glad I rediscovered this concert series.
ConcertMeister
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