Philadelphia Orchestra's season finale (1st review)

Everyone seemed to be having fun in Verizon Hall— the Philadelphia Orchestra, its conductor, the soloist and the audience.

You may say the story should be about what was played and how well. Yet the good spirits really are more important, given all the anxiety about the Orchestra's financial future.

This famous orchestra's morale is a legitimate concern for music lovers everywhere. To judge from Friday's evidence, the future looks sanguine.

Friday afternoon's concert was billed as a tribute to the Orchestra's late conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch, but it opened when the singing of "Happy birthday" interrupted David Kim's tuning of the orchestra. The 50-year-old concertmaster seemed surprised at this recognition and by the string players' genial bow-tapping. Nézet-Séguin added his congratulations, then chatted with Kim about his 14 years on the job and his recollections of the Orchestra's late conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch.

Mistakes in rehearsal

Kim told the audience about a characteristic of Yannick's leadership: When players make a mistake in rehearsal, Yannick doesn't chastise them or demand corrections. Instead he looks at them sadly and says, "That wasn't the Philadelphia Orchestra," and the players know what corrections need to be made. Sawallisch used to do exactly the same thing, Kim recalled.

Yannick and the Orchestra played the adagio movement of Schumann's Symphony No. 2— a favorite of Sawallisch— as a tribute to Sawallisch's memory. The rest of the program was filled with music from central Europe, the area closest to Sawallisch's heart.

Although the selections were disparate in style, a thread of connection among them could be discerned: Brahms and Schumann were friends; DvoÅ™ák's music was influenced by both of them; and JanáÄek followed DvoÅ™ák's celebration of local color.

JanáÄek was inspired to write his Sinfonietta when he saw a brass band playing in his town, with all the trumpeters standing. This composition begins with 14 trumpeters, and Yannick had all of them stand in a row.

Smiles from Shaham

Gil Shaham took a gentle approach to Brahms's Violin Concerto, and the Orchestra responded with understated warmth. The Orchestra's longtime conductor Eugene Ormandy used to present Brahms with plushness, while Sawallisch stressed the structural connections between Beethoven and Brahms. Nézet-Séguin and Shaham demonstrated that link, which is especially strong in the last movement, but their interpretation was less stern and more loving.

During the moments when his violin was at rest, Shaham continually turned to the string section, his face beaming as if he were thinking, "Wow, you guys sound really great today." He frequently grinned at Yannick, too, and the two men embraced at the end of the concerto.

Shaham added a solo encore: Bach's Chaconne by Bach, from his Partita No. 2 for unaccompanied violin, a propos because Brahms loved the piece and had written a transcription of it for piano.

Encores and postludes

Yannick's renditions of DvoÅ™ák's Three Slavonic Dances was a tribute not only to Sawallisch but also to previous music directors who often programmed this repertoire, albeit somewhat differently. Stokowski liked to bring out the colors of each section, Ormandy the schmaltz. Nézet-Séguin provided more speed, excitement and just plain fun.

As if to share the enjoyment with the customers, Yannick extended the already-long concert by presenting DvoÅ™ák's Hungarian Dance No. 20, orchestrated by Brahms, as an encore. The 2 p.m. concert didn't end until 4:15, then the violinist Juliette King, cellist Hai-Ye Ni and pianist Minkyung Kwon added Arensky's four-movement Trio No. 1 as a postlude.

The Orchestra and conductor now travel to China for a residency filled with concerts and coaching sessions, then return for concerts during the Mann Music Center summer season.♦


To read another review by Tom Purdom, click here.