Let’s get the rant out
of the way now. When I first heard Herbert
Blomstedt was coming with the Concertgebouw,
one of my favorite orchestras, I had hoped
he might bring some Hindemith, or Nielsen,
or Sibelius, or even Carmina Burana,
since he made some terrific recordings of
this repertoire with the San Francisco Symphony
Orchestra in the 1980’s and 1990’s. The Nielsen
symphonies in particular are pitifully underplayed,
and the chance to hear, for example, No.
5 with its starring role for snare drum,
or No. 6, with its singular part for
the triangle, would have been a big treat
given the ensemble’s extraordinarily talented
and underrated percussionists, not to mention
the glowingly lush strings, woodwinds with
a distinctive reedy timbre and sophisticated
brass. As with all great orchestras, every
section excels. Further, some of the programs
in the last few years have been as imaginative
as they come, such as Chailly’s inspired matching
of Varèse’s Tuning Up, Ligeti’s
Atmosphères and Lontano,
and the Mahler 4th Symphony
on a single program. So it was with a
bit of disappointment that these latest concerts,
resolutely conservative, appeared on the horizon.
All that said, the performances
pretty much swept aside any objections, and
in a way, one could hardly ask for more apt
models of what traditional classical concerts
should be. Although I’m not a huge fan of
the Beethoven 4th, one could
not ask for a more "right-sounding"
version than the one Blomstedt delivered.
A friend with me kept remarking how crisp
the ensemble sounded, and this was definitely
muscular Beethoven, played with the kind of
nimble abandon that only the best ensembles
can muster. I don’t recall hearing the bassoon,
just one of the instruments that emerged in
what were often rapturously clear textures.
No mud puddles here, there, or anywhere. Also
notable were some of the huge pauses, and
in the silence that followed, the sound resonated
with such fidelity in the Carnegie space that
one could only marvel at the true intonation
and blend.
The Tchaikovsky was
terrifically exciting – not out of control,
not pushed, not the adrenalin rush of say,
Gergiev with the Kirov – just beautifully
played, with keen attention to some of the
work’s colors. The third movement pizzicatos
almost made me laugh out loud; they were so
spot-on and precise. And when the last movement
began, the initial crash with the orchestra’s
cymbals and marvelous bass drum must have
made a gentleman nodding off next to me regret
doing so.
As a completely welcome
and thoroughly fun encore, Blomstedt launched
into one of Dvorák’s Slavonic Dances
(Op. 46, No. 3, Polka) that to this
listener’s ears was almost the highlight of
the two concerts combined. The gentle, lazily
flowing introduction had the Concertgebouw
winds in delicious form, before the brilliant
second theme charged in with the orchestra
at full blast. This piece might be called
Polka as Hurricane if ever there were
one, and expertly played, as it was here,
it offered thrills to spare.
Bruce Hodges
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