Different Conductor, Same Result

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The New York Sun

Those of us who find the conducting of Lorin Maazel intrusive, self-indulgent, and overly fussy have been looking forward to this part of the New York Philharmonic season ever since the schedule was announced last winter. Mr. Maazel is nowhere to be found for the next five weeks, abandoning the podium to a quintet of guest conductors, including the newsworthy (Marin Alsop and Itzhak Perlman) and the up-and-coming (Mikko Franck and Gianandrea Noseda). First up is the cultured veteran Charles Dutoit, who I am counting on to clean up the Philharmonic’s wayward phrasing, at least for one round of concerts.


The contrast was clear right from the outset of Wednesday night’s concert. Ravel’s “Valses nobles et sentimentales” relies on a strict rhythm within which the individual dances breathe organically. This is a time for discipline, not showiness: Any use of rubato or schmaltz would be destructive. Mr. Dutoit knows the piece intimately and conducted it with a sense of style that fulfilled the promise inherent in the work’s title.


But Mr. Dutoit was less successful once Sarah Chang took the stage to play the Dvorak violin concerto. Ms. Chang can be a formidable violinist: gigantic tone, amazing dexterity, harmonics to die for, and portamento slides not attempted since the 1940s. When I heard her Dvorak concerto with the London Symphony in 2001, I was immediately struck by her total involvement in the music. She showed off her ingenuous ability to waltz about the stage while playing the third movement, which begs for, but seldom actually receives, this type of joy and abandon.


The Dvoryak is an obscure piece that needs advocates in order to achieve public acceptance, though it is gaining popularity (it has already been performed in New York this young season by Julia Fischer and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic). Ms. Chang has in the past shown a strong will to project her own conception of a piece onto the audience and the musicians surrounding her. But this Wednesday night she did not seem to have her heart in it. The dancing was long gone – perhaps a natural if regrettable part of the maturation process – and virtually all of the joie de vivre was absent. Not only was her enthusiasm curbed to the point of diffidence, some of her technique appeared to have departed as well.


Ms. Chang’s phlegmatic approach may well have been engendered by the poor performance of the orchestra behind her. In the second movement, the soloist would have been more successful had she sued the Philharmonic horn section for non-support. Mr. Dutoit seemed to be conducting the work for the very first time, not only employing a score but perusing it far too often for spontaneous communication. The performance was thus a de facto second rehearsal. Perhaps it will be better by Saturday night.


The Ravel and Dvoryak are minor pieces, but Sergei Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet” is one of the great accomplishments of the last century. The orchestral parts rely heavily on a master’s sensitivity to instrumental color, and the local band simply does not have the palette to keep up. The excerpts presented were not part of the three suites compiled by the composer, but belonged rather to one of a number of compendia assembled over the years by various arrangers and conductors. This particular set opened with that most famous of Prokofiev dissonances, except that the Philharmonic brass misplayed the four notes leading to the normally shocking chord, and the effect was ruined.


For the rest, the clarinets exhibited some hearty gaffes and the saxophonist, hired for the occasion, was late in entering. Mr. Dutoit, perhaps frustrated by the pallid response from the orchestra, experimented, somewhat half-heartedly I believe, with substituting loudness for power. But nothing worked. It would be unfair to heap all the blame for this substandard performance on Mr. Dutoit: Of all the major ensembles in America, the Philharmonic’s violin section has consistently the most anemic aggregate sound.


New York critics like to consider themselves a sophisticated cut above their colleagues in the provinces, and they have fostered an urban myth around Mr. Maazel. It is said that he has vastly improved the quality of the instrumental performance at the Philharmonic. According to the scribbling set, Mitropoulos improved upon Rodzinsky, Bernstein upon Mitropoulos. Mehta was better than Boulez and Masur certainly forced discipline upon the orchestra. Now Mr. Maazel has seriously ratcheted up the technical prowess of his troops. I have but one simple question: With all of this improvement going on, why does the Phil still sound so slipshod?


Charles Dutoit and Sarah Chang will perform again with the New York Philharmonic on October 8 & 11 (Lincoln Center, 212-875-5656).


The New York Sun

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