The Tchaikovsky Experience with the New York Philharmonic
October 15, 2007
On Saturday Night, the New York Philharmonic, with Lorin Maazel conducting, concluded their Tchaikovsky festival, or “Experience” as they termed it, with a performance of Swan Lake excerpts, Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra, and the superlative Symphony No. 6, the Pathétique. (In truth, a reprised performance of the Sixth on Tuesday, 15 October marked the actual end of the festival, but as it was a “Rush Hour” concert sans Maazel it only counts, in my book, as a technicality.)
Cellist Johannes Moser made his debut with the New York Philharmonic, playing the Rococo Variations.
Once again, I find myself at odds with the Times‘ music critic, Allan Kozinn, who called the performance (from the day before, which had a similar program), “weird” and “peculiar”; he finally compared it to fast food. (Maazel has a notorious response for disparaging American critics.) On the other hand, I thought Maazel and the orchestra had found the perfect dynamic balance between Tchaikovsky’s two dominant, opposing strains, tenderness and bombast.
The Swan Lake excerpts will be broadcast on WQXR (96.3 FM) on Nov. 8, 2007, while the Variations on a Rococo Theme and Symphony No. 6 will be broadcast one week later, on the 15th.
