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ASO at Carnegie Hall
CONCERT REVIEW Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Saturday at Carnegie Hall, New York
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
New York —- Before Robert Spano even strode out on stage Saturday night, the Carnegie Hall audience was primed to applaud him. Peppered generously with Atlanta Symphony board members and patrons, the mostly full house simply couldn’t contain itself, clapping even at Carnegie’s customary pre-concert clang! (its cellphone reminder) and hooting and hollering when he finally did make his entrance. Clearly, this was no typical case-hardened New York crowd.
But then, this was no typical night for the ASO, either. Acoustically speaking, Carnegie Hall is legendary, as warm and reverberant as Atlanta Symphony Hall is cold and dull-sounding. What a pleasure it must have been for these musicians to play in such a concert hall! And from the standpoint of artistic prestige, it takes a lot more than practice to get to Carnegie Hall —- especially when it’s by invitation.
The concert —- a repeat of the recent program of Sibelius, Theofanidis and Ravel that the orchestra played in Atlanta —- was part of Carnegie’s Great American Orchestras series. This season that includes the major ensembles of Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, St. Louis and the New York Philharmonic. Has the ASO “arrived”? No question.
That said, Spano and company did not enjoy a consistently good night. The opening performance of Jean Sibelius’ evocative, moody tone poem “Tapiola” lacked any sense of mystery and was marred by some particularly sloppy viola playing. Tuning and ensemble improved as the work progressed, as if the players were adjusting to their new surroundings. But the tepid applause was understandable.
Joined by the ASO Chorus, the players sounded far better on the evening’s closer, Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloe.” From the opening’s exquisite a cappella choral passages to the long, slowly unfolding swells of rich orchestral color, balances were well-attenuated, ensemble playing was spot-on, and individual solos —- especially those of concertmaster Cecylia Arzewski and principal flute Christina Smith —- did the Atlantans proud. Strings shimmered, winds chirped. The standing ovation was well-deserved, especially the roar that erupted when the chorus stood for its bow.
The evening’s most unfortunate event was Christopher Theofanidis’ “The Here and Now.” A 2005 ASO commission, this huge choral work is based on poems by 13th-century poet Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi. Fortunately, the texts were inserted in the program, for most of the music covers the voices, rendering the chorus’ characteristically impeccable diction and precision ensemble either inaudible or mushy. A cappella passages, however, were mostly pristine.
As to the work itself, call it 30 minutes worth of compositional technique expended (loudly) on about five minutes worth of material. Next time, we’d leave it home.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment | Categories: Classical Music
Comments
By Kathy
April 7, 2008 8:19 PM | Link to this
I can’t stand it when reviewers love “old standards” and hate “new music” because they lack both compositional and musical understanding. Chris Theofanidis’s “The Here and Now” has some of the most beautiful passages (esp. Mvmt. 6) and deeply thought out settings of text than that of any choral composer since Bernstein. No wonder he has received accolades worldwide! Bravo!!! Perhaps the only flaw was placing the work between two diversely different, mainly orchestral works. I vote for an evening of Theofanidis!
Boo to the reviewer above…we’d rather you stay home. His work was the reason the chorus received the ovation! Bring back Pierre Ruhe!
By Peter Stelling
April 8, 2008 5:35 PM | Link to this
I am sure there are many of you out there who would like to read the New York TIMES review of this same performance but haven’t been able to locate it on the internet. I had some help in finding it from members of the ASO staff, for which I am very grateful. The reviewer was Allan Kozinn, and this article also appeared on Monday, April 7 in the TIMES. The simplest way to access it: Google “Allan Kozinn” and click on the second headline that appears: “Can You Hear the Painterly Vistas?”