Above, conductor Osmo Vänskä; photo by Ann Marsden
~ Author: Ben Weaver
Saturday February 8th, 2020 - Thus evening's Curtis Symphony Orchestra’s Carnegie Hall concert showed off some of Curtis’ brightest talents - and they are ready for Carnegie Hall. On the podium a confident maestro, Osmo Vänskä, held the proceedings together admirably.
The program started with Gabriella Smith’s f(x) = sin2x - 1/x, a fascinating tone poem based on actual math. I tried reading Smith’s essay on her methods in the Playbill, but honestly math has never been a favorite subject and after spacing out multiple times I decided it’s best to let Smith’s thought process remain her own and just judge the music on its own merit. Does math make music better? Usually no, but Smith managed to create something immensely listenable anyway.
Above: composer Gabriella Smith
On this single hearing the impression the piece leaves is of no instrument making the sounds they were initially designed to make - bows hit the strings most of the time, the brass wails - and somewhere out of the chaos Elgar’s “Enigma” Variations (Nimrod, of course) rises briefly. This unique and not unpleasant - despite the cacophony - soundscape is far more interesting than math. I’d be very interested to hear more of Gabriella Smith’s work. This season we have Jörg Widmann has been Carnegie’s composer-in-residence. Honestly, I was far more impressed with Smith’s f(x) = sin2x - 1/x than any Widmann piece I’ve heard so far.
In this, the 250th year since the birth of our Lord - Ludwig van Beethoven - his Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, was performed by Curtis alumnus and faculty member, Jonathan Biss. Using the full orchestra (I’d also hate to tell students to sit one out) created a big, thick wall of sound that Biss, more of a poet of the keyboard than warrior, sometimes fought against. I wanted just a bit more bite from the performance. The slow tempos taken by Vänskä also drained some energy from the piece. I feared for the second half of the concert which featured Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 in D major. As it happens, there was no reason to fear. Vänskä is a seasoned Sibelius interpreter - arguably one of the finest today - and the fire that was missing from the Beethoven was blazing in Sibelius.
Sibelius is a sound image painter like few others. Passionate and thrilling playing from the strings were like swirling, cresting ocean waves crashing against rocks; brass was bright and majestic, like sunlight breaking through clouds. In the beautifully controlled second movement, with its relentless pizzicato from double-basses and cellos, Vänskä never lost tension. The restless Vivacissimo then gave way to the famous, majestic final movement - one of the great melodies of all - played magnificently by the orchestra. It was a thrilling performance, greeted warmly the audience. Two encores, including an excellent Valse triste ended the proceedings.
~ Ben Weaver