Järvi: The next generation
Aha! Our second NY-area review of the CSO and Paavo at Carnegie Hall comes from the Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger (1/26/05)!
In an interesting contrast to the New York Times review, Bradley Bambarger writes in a rather strangely mixed one, Järvi: The next generation: "The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra performed an all-Nordic program Tuesday at Carnegie Hall, with the concert serving as a coincidental addendum to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra's just-completed Northern Lights Festival.
"Moreover, the event provided a close-up look at NJSO music director Neeme Järvi's eldest son, Cincinnati music director Paavo Järvi. It was an often frustrating view. One of the international scene's up-and-coming maestros, Järvi fils has been one of the few conductors in the United States to maintain a regular recording career. March brings his seventh Telarc disc with Cincinnati in three years. In addition to performing guest spots with top American and European orchestras, he is also the artistic director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie in Bremen, Germany.
"On the podium, the trim, elegant Järvi cuts a figure somewhere between his father and the modernist Pierre Boulez, juxtaposing eloquent baton technique and impressive control with a sober mien. To generalize the difference between generations, Järvi emphasizes precision and detail over his father's concerns for spontaneity and suppleness.
"Järvi has honed the already admirable Cincinnati orchestra into a high-class, if not yet high-octane, instrument. The conductor's interpretations of 20th-century staples from Ravel and Stravinsky to Prokofiev and Nielsen have been considered but mostly straightforward. He does not have a reputation as an extremist, yet his way with some of this program's Nordic totems was off-putting in the extreme.
"The opener was Finnish composer Aulis Sallinen's Symphony No. 8 ("Autumnal Fragments"), in its New York premiere....As indicated by 'fragments' in its subtitle, his latest is episodic and prolix, hardly warranting the designation of 'symphony.' Yet Järvi and his players put forth the best case, especially in the climax, in which dark, dissonant strings were underpinned by resonating timpani.
"The concert's centerpiece was Grieg's tune-rich Piano Concerto, with Lars Vogt as soloist. Since winning the 1990 Leeds Competition, the German musician has mixed vitality with poetry, from Brahms to Hindemith. His Grieg was beyond that -- it was thrilling. He pounced on the instrument like a panther, digging deep into the keys to yield an incisive yet almost overwhelmingly muscular sonority. (By the end, one worried about the future of this piano.) While Vogt was resolutely unsentimental in this Romantic warhorse, his vast dynamic range included pianissimi that glowed.
"Järvi no doubt sought to match Vogt's virility with a lean, lapidary accompaniment, but his approach seemed diffident, only making Grieg's score sound smaller than it is. Still, Vogt's performance delighted the Carnegie cognoscenti, which demanded an encore. He complied with a sparkling bit of solo Haydn.
"The orchestral finale was Sibelius' Fifth Symphony, one of those pieces of art for which the word 'sublime' was invented. Sadly, Järvi's perverse interpretation underlined the fact that the precise sounding of notes doesn't necessarily result in music. He drove this moving score at a wired tempo, constricting the most magical phrases into mute inexpressiveness. Even at the hard-driven pace, the orchestra responded with remarkably disciplined and intense playing, including an outstanding solo horn.
"Like father like son, Järvi complied readily to the full house's call for an encore with Sibelius' Valse Triste. Yet his way with this wintry waltz, moving exactly if exaggeratedly from funereal to feverish, was very much his own."
In an interesting contrast to the New York Times review, Bradley Bambarger writes in a rather strangely mixed one, Järvi: The next generation: "The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra performed an all-Nordic program Tuesday at Carnegie Hall, with the concert serving as a coincidental addendum to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra's just-completed Northern Lights Festival.
"Moreover, the event provided a close-up look at NJSO music director Neeme Järvi's eldest son, Cincinnati music director Paavo Järvi. It was an often frustrating view. One of the international scene's up-and-coming maestros, Järvi fils has been one of the few conductors in the United States to maintain a regular recording career. March brings his seventh Telarc disc with Cincinnati in three years. In addition to performing guest spots with top American and European orchestras, he is also the artistic director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie in Bremen, Germany.
"On the podium, the trim, elegant Järvi cuts a figure somewhere between his father and the modernist Pierre Boulez, juxtaposing eloquent baton technique and impressive control with a sober mien. To generalize the difference between generations, Järvi emphasizes precision and detail over his father's concerns for spontaneity and suppleness.
"Järvi has honed the already admirable Cincinnati orchestra into a high-class, if not yet high-octane, instrument. The conductor's interpretations of 20th-century staples from Ravel and Stravinsky to Prokofiev and Nielsen have been considered but mostly straightforward. He does not have a reputation as an extremist, yet his way with some of this program's Nordic totems was off-putting in the extreme.
"The opener was Finnish composer Aulis Sallinen's Symphony No. 8 ("Autumnal Fragments"), in its New York premiere....As indicated by 'fragments' in its subtitle, his latest is episodic and prolix, hardly warranting the designation of 'symphony.' Yet Järvi and his players put forth the best case, especially in the climax, in which dark, dissonant strings were underpinned by resonating timpani.
"The concert's centerpiece was Grieg's tune-rich Piano Concerto, with Lars Vogt as soloist. Since winning the 1990 Leeds Competition, the German musician has mixed vitality with poetry, from Brahms to Hindemith. His Grieg was beyond that -- it was thrilling. He pounced on the instrument like a panther, digging deep into the keys to yield an incisive yet almost overwhelmingly muscular sonority. (By the end, one worried about the future of this piano.) While Vogt was resolutely unsentimental in this Romantic warhorse, his vast dynamic range included pianissimi that glowed.
"Järvi no doubt sought to match Vogt's virility with a lean, lapidary accompaniment, but his approach seemed diffident, only making Grieg's score sound smaller than it is. Still, Vogt's performance delighted the Carnegie cognoscenti, which demanded an encore. He complied with a sparkling bit of solo Haydn.
"The orchestral finale was Sibelius' Fifth Symphony, one of those pieces of art for which the word 'sublime' was invented. Sadly, Järvi's perverse interpretation underlined the fact that the precise sounding of notes doesn't necessarily result in music. He drove this moving score at a wired tempo, constricting the most magical phrases into mute inexpressiveness. Even at the hard-driven pace, the orchestra responded with remarkably disciplined and intense playing, including an outstanding solo horn.
"Like father like son, Järvi complied readily to the full house's call for an encore with Sibelius' Valse Triste. Yet his way with this wintry waltz, moving exactly if exaggeratedly from funereal to feverish, was very much his own."
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