|
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
www.orpheusnyc.org
With
Jeremy Denk, Piano
www.jeremydenk.net
At
Carnegie Hall
(Carnegie Hall Website)
Press: Cohn Dutcher Associates
www.cohndutcher.com
Nikolas J. Lund
December 2, 2006
Program:
Johann Sebastian Bach
“Brandenburg” Concerto No. 1 in F Major, BWV 1046
Allegro
Adagio
Allegro
Minuet—Trio I—Polonaise—Trio II
Johann Sebastian Bach
Keyboard Concerto No. 1 in D minor, BWV 1052
Allegro
Adagio
Allegro
Jeremy Denk, Piano
Stephen Hartke
A Brandenburg Autumn
Nocturne: Barcarolle
Scherzo: Colloquy
Sarabande: Palaces
Johann Sebastian Bach
“Brandenburg” Concerto No. 2 in F Major, BWV 1047
Allegro
Andante
Allegro assai
The concert program at Stern Auditorium in Carnegie Hall tonight was one filled with all the gentle novelty of début.
First, the audience was treated to the Carnegie Hall debut recital (still always a milestone event of sorts) of up-and-coming pianist and New York City dweller Jeremy Denk, while the musical program itself included a new work commissioned of the present-day composer Stephen Hartke. The rest of the program was all-Bach in a highly specific way (two Brandenburg Concerti and a Keyboard Concerto) and this dual-début situation did indeed serve to remind that one would be hearing something NEW tonight, and bring some new context to those Brandenburgs which we have all heard so many times before. And music aside, Carnegie Hall naturally never fails to edify one’s taste for the opulent and nicely-spaced when taking in an evening concert and its corresponding crowd of curious persons.
The concert began with an orchestral configuration, with which it would function for three-quarters of the program. The orchestra was, of course, seated half-moon to the audience, but with the accompanying harpsichord placed to the aft of the ensemble. Generally speaking it is always an interesting point in itself to see and hear where a chamber orchestra places its plectra in relation to the other instruments, but tonight’s configuration situated the harpsichord in a spot where its critical acridity was lost in the cavern above the Perelman stage. It has become, of course, all too fashionable to condemn the acoustic at the post-renovation Carnegie, but I nevertheless was deprived tonight of that plunk-clang which always gets me feeling so weird and ahistorical in the naughtiest of ways.
After the first of the Brandenburg Concerti, the stage was mercifully (though briefly) reconfigured with a house Steinway at the fore of the stage, upon which Jeremy Denk emerged to present the D minor Keyboard Concerto. I myself was delighted to have the opportunity this evening to finally hear Mr. Denk play, having been a devoted reader of his blog Think Denk for some time. It was clear in this situation that the normally conductor-less ensemble was taking its cue from the creative impetus of the pianist. He did indeed present a reading of the work, which remained conservative enough to place its highest emphases on the textural exhilarations of Bach, while finding just the right ways to catch one unawares. The reading was one which built itself towards well-demarcated and specified occurrences within the piece, and there indeed were some “D minor moments” tonight where the suddenness of the soloist’s statement was exactly enough to startle one’s lost thoughts, and even possibly enough to frighten just a bit. And three cheers for any Bach which can be calculated to scare us…
Alas though, even the longest of Bach’s keyboard concerti went but briefly by, and the always-entertaining intermission at Carnegie’s Citigroup Café was followed with the new work of which there is not a tremendous amount to say. The work was undoubtedly a challenge for these veteran musicians, and was, of course, played better than it had been ever before. The music itself was stylistically derived from that vast and thus perfectly legitimate twentieth-century idiom and sounded a lot like, well, “a lot of different things all put together in very interesting ways.” It was, of course very interesting to hear something which no one else has heard before, but it seems as though polite and thorough musical criticism should probably only follow repeated and close comparative listenings. Mr. Hartke is a well-established composer though, and I have no doubt that we shall be hearing more of his music in the future.
At the end, there was yet another F major Brandenburg to bookend the program, and the piece proved perfectly sufficient to cleanse one’s palate after so many interesting flavors had been passed over it. The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is an ensemble with a fine pedigree and an extraordinary back catalog of recordings (more than 70!). The playing tonight was always filled with nuance, and if there were perhaps a few moments when it seemed that the music was not as perfectly focused as one might hope—or as well intonated—one’s spirits were refreshed nevertheless by the relative briskness and declarative succinctness of Bach’s music.
|
