Concert review
Jun. 20th, 2006 11:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eclectic_boyI just got back from the first Philadelphia Orchestra summer season concert (plus fireworks). It was great, and I'm very excited about the orchestra's apparent return to playing actual classical music at the Mann, and about the abilities of the new conductor, Rossen Milanov (though he does suffer a bit from Wild Gesticulation Syndrome -- was it Peter Schickele who wrote a Concerto for Conductor and Orchestra? This was kind of like that at times).
There were three works, plus The Star Spangled Banner since this was the season opener. Milanov started with Dvorak's Carnival Overture, and within ten seconds my eyebrows were raised at how crisp everything sounded, and how much energy the players had. The former might be due to a new sound system (certainly there was something different about the sound, because I noticed the concertmaster was way overmiked at times), and the latter could be opening-night fervor, but I prefer to believe that it's Milanov's doing. I certainly am already predisposed to liking him, because for the first time in years the summer season is filled with serious pieces, with almost no "Broadway Nites", "Bugs Bunny at the Orchestra", or other attempts at becoming a pops orchestra. They're going to do Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra! Shostakovich's Ninth (paired with Beethoven's!) Even Bernstein's First!
The middle piece was Beethoven's Violin Concerto, with Itzahk Perlman. His final cadenza was amazing, but overall the piece was the draggiest of the three. LvB was more concise in his Piano Concerti; I guess that;s what comes with playing the instrument yourself.
After intermission was Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances, which was powerful and inventive all the way through. It's his last piece, and I think his best -- at one point I thought to myself, "this is what Prokofiev was trying to write his entire life." The furious syncopations all through the last dance are amazing, and Milanov held it all together with ease. Bravo, and I hope I get out to see many more concerts this summer.
There were three works, plus The Star Spangled Banner since this was the season opener. Milanov started with Dvorak's Carnival Overture, and within ten seconds my eyebrows were raised at how crisp everything sounded, and how much energy the players had. The former might be due to a new sound system (certainly there was something different about the sound, because I noticed the concertmaster was way overmiked at times), and the latter could be opening-night fervor, but I prefer to believe that it's Milanov's doing. I certainly am already predisposed to liking him, because for the first time in years the summer season is filled with serious pieces, with almost no "Broadway Nites", "Bugs Bunny at the Orchestra", or other attempts at becoming a pops orchestra. They're going to do Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra! Shostakovich's Ninth (paired with Beethoven's!) Even Bernstein's First!
The middle piece was Beethoven's Violin Concerto, with Itzahk Perlman. His final cadenza was amazing, but overall the piece was the draggiest of the three. LvB was more concise in his Piano Concerti; I guess that;s what comes with playing the instrument yourself.
After intermission was Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances, which was powerful and inventive all the way through. It's his last piece, and I think his best -- at one point I thought to myself, "this is what Prokofiev was trying to write his entire life." The furious syncopations all through the last dance are amazing, and Milanov held it all together with ease. Bravo, and I hope I get out to see many more concerts this summer.
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Date: 2006-06-21 04:17 am (UTC)And, just so there's no confusion, the Philadelphia Orchestra was not playing this piece, nor are they likely to in the future :^)