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From Theatre to Theosophy New York
Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Centre
11/05/2008 - & Nov. 6, 7, 8, 2008
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Opus 15
Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor (Orel Edition)
Lang Lang (Pianist)
New York Philharmonic, Christoph Eschenbach (Conductor)
Lang Lang & Christoph Eschenbach
The two works on this week’s Philharmonic program, written a century apart, make a perfect historical balance. Beethoven’s 1st Piano Concerto (actually his second) teeters precipitately between the musical formality of the 18th Century and the personal formality of the 19th Century composer. The hour-long Ninth Symphony of Bruckner, also uneasily balances between the excesses of the 19th Century personal composer, with whisperings into the expressive subconscious of Mahler and Schoenberg in the 20th Century.
Both ends of the Romantic Century were held together by a European musician whose understanding of music is rivaled only by his piano and his conducting. In this case, Christoph Eschenbach left the piano to a colleague with whom he has been performing for over a decade.
Little doubt remains that Lang Lang will someday become one of the greatest pianists, so long as Eschenbach conducts and Daniel Barenboim is teaching him that brilliance by itself is not its own reward.
Lang Lang is indeed brilliant yet so highly theatrical that it sometimes distracts from the music itself. When the right hand is playing, the left hand conducts it, when he finishes a few adventurous moments, raises his arms in a victorious fist, like an Olympic Gold Medalist. He may rock back in the chair or hunch over the piano, but is always on the move.
One quickly accustoms oneself to the theatre, because the playing is technically unparalleled. He comes down the scales in thirds like an electron whizzing through a centrifuge. The octave glissando towards the end of the first movement was more than crystal-clear: he could have been playing violin, so close were the notes together. While Beethoven was consciously daring in his key modulations, Lang Lang leaped over the keyboard with almost childish glee. The cadenza (Beethoven’s second out of three) was most daring of all in its variety of styles, but it gave Lang Lang all the room he needed to thunder and whisper and finish with the most thrilling trills.
Yes, some of the notes were accented almost to the point of parody, but this was his personality: his spirits were willing and the flash was strong.
The second movement was well-nigh perfect, the lovely clarinet-piano truly beautiful. Lang Lang might have been expected to whiz through the Finale, but he took his cue from Eschenbach and gave a relatively normal performance. He still didn’t get the humor of that funky little galumphing section (with premonitions of Fats Waller!), but it was still a thrilling performance.
Possibly because the music seemed so easy for him, and the audience felt so comfortable, the Bruckner came as a surprise to many here. In fact, a dozen-odd listeners (who obviously weren’t listening) left after the first long movement, obviously to return to their Muzak.
For the rest of us, Eschenbach, returning to the near-original score after several revisions, conducted a most inspiring work. Eschenbach went from the secular (those masterful brass fanfares) to the ethereal (with the luscious choral NY Phil strings). Most of all, he kept each movement in perfect balance, eschewing overdone retards, allowing the numerous grand climaxes to broaden, without any undue speeding or slowing down. Most of all, he retained what few conductors see in Bruckner: an honest sense of singing. The tunes may be awkward, but they go forward, and a conductor like Christoph Eschenbach is able to visualize and draw forth the soul beneath the skin.
Harry Rolnick
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