本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Conductor Embraces His New York Moment
ANTHONY TOMMASINI
NYTimes, Published: August 5, 2009
If the fast-rising French-Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin was at all nervous about making his New York debut with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall on Tuesday night, he did not show it. This concert was one of the most anticipated of the summer season. Mr. Nézet-Séguin (pronounced nay-ZAY say-GHEN) can hardly keep pace with the invitations coming his way from orchestras around the world. That at 34 he had still not performed in New York was just a career quirk, and he embraced the moment, earning an immediate standing ovation. And this in a program that had only one crowd pleaser: Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony.
Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra: Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting at Avery Fisher Hall on Tuesday night.
Though a diminutive figure, Mr. Nézet-Séguin exudes charisma on the podium. He has striking musical ideas and communicates with his players through gestures that blend kinetic animation with elegant precision.
Yet to assess him more completely, New Yorkers may have to wait until he comes to Lincoln Center in February with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, one of the two orchestras of which he is music director (the other being the Orchestre Métropolitain in Montreal). The Mostly Mozart Festival is not an ideal setting for a conducting debut.
Longtime admirers of this festival are understandably excited by the marked improvement in the orchestra and the adventurousness of the programming since Louis Langrée took over as music director in 2002. Still, this summertime orchestra is not a crack ensemble, and the demands of the festival, with many diverse programs packed into a constricted period, do not allow for extensive rehearsal.
The shortcomings of the playing were most apparent in the opening work on Tuesday, Stravinsky’s ballet score “Pulcinella,” performed complete, including the arias and ensembles for three vocal soloists, settings of Italian love poems. Essentially this work consists of arrangements of Italian Baroque pieces by Pergolesi, or so Stravinsky thought. Scholars have since shown that some of the selections are by other composers.
Stravinsky ingeniously tweaked and fractured the sources. Those pungent, needling details must come through in crisp and brittle playing, otherwise the score sounds like a genial neo-Baroque pastiche.
Mr. Nézet-Séguin tried to make “Pulcinella” seem a real Stravinsky piece with a contemporary character. There were wonderfully sour wind chords, bone-dry plucked string lines and driving rhythms in the dance movements. The Presto, a patter song for tenor, recalled “Les Noces” a bit. The restless Allegro assai sounded like an Italianized episode from “Petrouchka.”
Still, the playing, though energetic, was sometimes tentative and scrambled. The roster of vocal soloists — Karen Cargill, mezzo-soprano; Toby Spence, tenor; and Matthew Rose, bass — was appealing.
Making a performance of Mendelssohn’s familiar “Italian” Symphony stand out is not easy, but Mr. Nézet-Séguin did it. He was so eager that he began the first movement at a tempo too quick for comfort. Once things settled down, the performance had sweep, line and lightness. The Andante was a revelation, taken at a true ambling pace, with a steady walking bass line in the lower strings and an austerely shaped melody. It was almost Baroque in its stateliness and quiet rigor; Mendelssohn was, after all, a major champion of Bach.
The third movement had genial grace, like a breezy Italianate melody floating atop an undulant stream of eighth-notes. The brisk tempo that Mr. Nézet-Séguin set in the Saltarello finale might have been dangerous. But he kept the playing light and flowing, with gossamer textures. Even sudden accents were not forced. There was something impressionistic about the conception, and the orchestra was at its best here.
There was also a rewarding account of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, with Nicholas Angelich as soloist. Overall Mr. Angelich played with refinement, rippling passagework and clear structure. Yet throughout the performance of this haunting piece, so somber even during its deceptively spirited finale, he intriguingly highlighted dramatic nuances and harmonic turns with a pronounced emphasis that took you by surprise.
A preconcert performance featured the Trio con Brio Copenhagen, an award-winning ensemble consisting of the Danish pianist Jens Elvekjaer and two Korean sisters, the violinist Soo-Jin Hong and the cellist Soo-Kyung Hong. These accomplished and sensitive musicians gave a beautifully subdued performance of Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor. Mr. Elvekjaer brought exceptional grace and fluidity to the rippling runs in the piano.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
ANTHONY TOMMASINI
NYTimes, Published: August 5, 2009
If the fast-rising French-Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin was at all nervous about making his New York debut with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall on Tuesday night, he did not show it. This concert was one of the most anticipated of the summer season. Mr. Nézet-Séguin (pronounced nay-ZAY say-GHEN) can hardly keep pace with the invitations coming his way from orchestras around the world. That at 34 he had still not performed in New York was just a career quirk, and he embraced the moment, earning an immediate standing ovation. And this in a program that had only one crowd pleaser: Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony.
Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra: Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting at Avery Fisher Hall on Tuesday night.
Though a diminutive figure, Mr. Nézet-Séguin exudes charisma on the podium. He has striking musical ideas and communicates with his players through gestures that blend kinetic animation with elegant precision.
Yet to assess him more completely, New Yorkers may have to wait until he comes to Lincoln Center in February with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, one of the two orchestras of which he is music director (the other being the Orchestre Métropolitain in Montreal). The Mostly Mozart Festival is not an ideal setting for a conducting debut.
Longtime admirers of this festival are understandably excited by the marked improvement in the orchestra and the adventurousness of the programming since Louis Langrée took over as music director in 2002. Still, this summertime orchestra is not a crack ensemble, and the demands of the festival, with many diverse programs packed into a constricted period, do not allow for extensive rehearsal.
The shortcomings of the playing were most apparent in the opening work on Tuesday, Stravinsky’s ballet score “Pulcinella,” performed complete, including the arias and ensembles for three vocal soloists, settings of Italian love poems. Essentially this work consists of arrangements of Italian Baroque pieces by Pergolesi, or so Stravinsky thought. Scholars have since shown that some of the selections are by other composers.
Stravinsky ingeniously tweaked and fractured the sources. Those pungent, needling details must come through in crisp and brittle playing, otherwise the score sounds like a genial neo-Baroque pastiche.
Mr. Nézet-Séguin tried to make “Pulcinella” seem a real Stravinsky piece with a contemporary character. There were wonderfully sour wind chords, bone-dry plucked string lines and driving rhythms in the dance movements. The Presto, a patter song for tenor, recalled “Les Noces” a bit. The restless Allegro assai sounded like an Italianized episode from “Petrouchka.”
Still, the playing, though energetic, was sometimes tentative and scrambled. The roster of vocal soloists — Karen Cargill, mezzo-soprano; Toby Spence, tenor; and Matthew Rose, bass — was appealing.
Making a performance of Mendelssohn’s familiar “Italian” Symphony stand out is not easy, but Mr. Nézet-Séguin did it. He was so eager that he began the first movement at a tempo too quick for comfort. Once things settled down, the performance had sweep, line and lightness. The Andante was a revelation, taken at a true ambling pace, with a steady walking bass line in the lower strings and an austerely shaped melody. It was almost Baroque in its stateliness and quiet rigor; Mendelssohn was, after all, a major champion of Bach.
The third movement had genial grace, like a breezy Italianate melody floating atop an undulant stream of eighth-notes. The brisk tempo that Mr. Nézet-Séguin set in the Saltarello finale might have been dangerous. But he kept the playing light and flowing, with gossamer textures. Even sudden accents were not forced. There was something impressionistic about the conception, and the orchestra was at its best here.
There was also a rewarding account of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, with Nicholas Angelich as soloist. Overall Mr. Angelich played with refinement, rippling passagework and clear structure. Yet throughout the performance of this haunting piece, so somber even during its deceptively spirited finale, he intriguingly highlighted dramatic nuances and harmonic turns with a pronounced emphasis that took you by surprise.
A preconcert performance featured the Trio con Brio Copenhagen, an award-winning ensemble consisting of the Danish pianist Jens Elvekjaer and two Korean sisters, the violinist Soo-Jin Hong and the cellist Soo-Kyung Hong. These accomplished and sensitive musicians gave a beautifully subdued performance of Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor. Mr. Elvekjaer brought exceptional grace and fluidity to the rippling runs in the piano.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net