I wasn't familiar with the "Summer Night" Concert series
before this. Wikipedia explains that it's an annual outdoor concert
given by the Vienna Philharmonic at the Schönbrunn Palace, which was first
held in 2004. Since admission to these concerts is free, the CD,
paradoxically, costs more than did the actual performance. Zubin
Mehta's 2015 programme comprised Nordic music, save for the opening
Vienna Philharmonic Fanfare, played by the ensemble's brass
and timpani with full-toned authority.
The programme's centrepiece is the Grieg piano concerto, and
it's odd that it took this long for the piece to work its way into
Mehta's discography. The conductor is certainly attuned to its
open-hearted lyricism, although he lets the final coda succumb to thudding
grandiloquence. A more congenial soloist would have been nice, however.
Rudolf Buchbinder has moments of flair: his crisp articulation makes the
first movement's transitions dance; he brings an improvisatory feel
to the embellishments in the finale's second theme. But he's
literal and self-conscious in the
Adagio, with no sense of flourish
or spontaneity; and his tone is comparatively shallow, not only unweighted
but
ungiving.
The
Peer Gynt selections fare better, although Mehta can be
casual about ensemble. In
Morning Mood, the various parts
don't dovetail precisely; some of the brass punctuations speak late
in
In the Hall of the Mountain King. The conductor allows the flute
soloist in
Morning Mood some rhapsodic freedom, and shapes the
tuttis forthrightly, though the landings aren't always neat.
He brings sufficient weight to
Åse's Death to offset his
flowing tempo, and builds
Anitra's Dance in broad arcs.
Idiomatic piano writing rarely adapts well to the orchestra -- think of
the various attempts to orchestrate Chopin -- but the arrangement of
Sinding's
Frühlingsrauschen is beautifully evocative of the
bubbling and rushing of spring, until Mehta and the Vienna brass decide to
make heavy weather of the climax.
Finlandia is full of character:
the strings are fervent in the chorales, the oboes sob plaintively, and the
big tune, expressive but not sentimental, moves along. It also takes in a
few miscalculations. The low brasses sustain the opening with power, but the
broad tempo leaves the woodwinds creaking, stiffly, from note to note; and,
again, transitions are momentarily uncertain.
Mehta's old recording of the
Inextinguishable Symphony
(Decca), made back in the 1970s, showed some flair for Nielsen's
style. This
Maskarade Overture, however, sounds merely ill-at-ease.
The opening isn't objectively too slow, but feels weighted-down. The
bows sit too long on the strings, so the scurrying violin figures
aren't mercurial. The second theme goes with a nice combination of
delicacy and fullness, but the waltz subject that follows lacks
exuberance.
The broad, lyrical start of the Lumbye encore doesn't suggest any
sort of
Galopp, but, after a few clangs -- the
Eisenbahn,
remember -- and bird calls, the score becomes a cheerful, boisterous
"train piece" on the order of Johann Strauss's
Galops.
The sound is vivid enough, with the engineers leaving in enough applause
to suggest a sense of occasion.
Stephen Francis Vasta
Stephen Francis Vasta is a New York-based conductor, coach, and
journalist.
