CONCERT REVIEW: New World tackles tough Nielsen work
Lawrence A. Johnson of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel offers this review of Paavo's visit to the New World Symphony:
New World tackles tough Nielsen work
April 18, 2005
"In the last decade Carl Nielsen has belatedly begun to receive his due, though not in Florida, where his music remains largely unperformed. All credit then to conductor Paavo Järvi for leaping in at the deep end with Nielsen's Symphony No. 6, performed Friday night by the New World Symphony.
"The Danish composer's music speaks with an instantly recognizable voice, open-air Nordic lyricism and contrapuntal rigor allied to a tautness and harmonic palette that are unique and compelling.
"Nielsen's strange world is one of order harshly threatened by instability. The surface of placid serenity and cheerful progress is continually rocked by jarring dislocations, never more so than in his sixth and final symphony.
"With the deceptive subtitle Sinfonia semplice or "simple symphony," Nielsen's Sixth is cast in four movements, but that's where tradition ends. This time the digressive shadows that forestall optimism and progress are so sudden and hair-trigger that one can hardly tell if movement has even begun. The serene opening has barely started when jagged figures surface and the roiling tonal conflict is on. In the Humoreske movement, percussion and winds offer anarchic witty asides to little avail or relief.
"Most striking is the finale, led by a bassoon theme that sparks ten destabilizing variations. Near the end, the symphony rockets through a lilting waltz, immediately dismantled, to a cacophonous percussion band, grandiose brass fanfare, lightning string figures, and brief luminous warmth before a final rude woodwind coda
"To say this music is enormously difficult to perform would be a vast understatement. Järvi stated that he felt confident the New World was up to the challenge and handle it they did. With Järvi's precise and idiomatic direction firmly bringing out Nielsen's mercurial gear-shifts and sheer weirdness, the musicians responded with playing of titanic force and commitment in all departments. Kudos especially to timpanist Alex Orfaly and the percussionists, and the superb woodwinds led by Lori Wike's subversive, personality-plus bassoon solos.
"Järvi preceded Nielsen with Mozart, where his thoughtful take on the Symphony No. 39 proved a breath of fresh air.
"Generous with repeats, Järvi's astringent reading showed a keen preference for period-performance qualities, with brisk tempos and springy rhythms. At times, his Mozart seemed to border on the ascetic; the small string section's light bowing and sparing vibrato may have provided bracing textural clarity but with a loss of tonal richness and grandeur. In the outer movements, especially, tuttis sounded decidedly undernourished.
"Yet the performance provided recompense as well. At a flowing tempo, the Andante was floated with great purity and polished agility. Rarely will one hear the minuet taken at this frantic a clip, but the effect was undeniably invigorating, even if the trio's woodwinds sounding strangely like carnival sideshow music.
"Finlandia began the evening, led, oddly, not by Sibelius specialist Järvi, but Benjamin Shwartz. The conducting fellow's plodding introduction seemed more elephantine than ominous, yet his reading soon found its footing and rescued Sibelius' tone poem from pops-concert purgatory. The lean string tone in the second theme skirted schmaltz, and with brilliant brass playing, the conclusion made its clarion impact without descending to noisy vulgarity."
Copyright © 2005, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
New World tackles tough Nielsen work
April 18, 2005
"In the last decade Carl Nielsen has belatedly begun to receive his due, though not in Florida, where his music remains largely unperformed. All credit then to conductor Paavo Järvi for leaping in at the deep end with Nielsen's Symphony No. 6, performed Friday night by the New World Symphony.
"The Danish composer's music speaks with an instantly recognizable voice, open-air Nordic lyricism and contrapuntal rigor allied to a tautness and harmonic palette that are unique and compelling.
"Nielsen's strange world is one of order harshly threatened by instability. The surface of placid serenity and cheerful progress is continually rocked by jarring dislocations, never more so than in his sixth and final symphony.
"With the deceptive subtitle Sinfonia semplice or "simple symphony," Nielsen's Sixth is cast in four movements, but that's where tradition ends. This time the digressive shadows that forestall optimism and progress are so sudden and hair-trigger that one can hardly tell if movement has even begun. The serene opening has barely started when jagged figures surface and the roiling tonal conflict is on. In the Humoreske movement, percussion and winds offer anarchic witty asides to little avail or relief.
"Most striking is the finale, led by a bassoon theme that sparks ten destabilizing variations. Near the end, the symphony rockets through a lilting waltz, immediately dismantled, to a cacophonous percussion band, grandiose brass fanfare, lightning string figures, and brief luminous warmth before a final rude woodwind coda
"To say this music is enormously difficult to perform would be a vast understatement. Järvi stated that he felt confident the New World was up to the challenge and handle it they did. With Järvi's precise and idiomatic direction firmly bringing out Nielsen's mercurial gear-shifts and sheer weirdness, the musicians responded with playing of titanic force and commitment in all departments. Kudos especially to timpanist Alex Orfaly and the percussionists, and the superb woodwinds led by Lori Wike's subversive, personality-plus bassoon solos.
"Järvi preceded Nielsen with Mozart, where his thoughtful take on the Symphony No. 39 proved a breath of fresh air.
"Generous with repeats, Järvi's astringent reading showed a keen preference for period-performance qualities, with brisk tempos and springy rhythms. At times, his Mozart seemed to border on the ascetic; the small string section's light bowing and sparing vibrato may have provided bracing textural clarity but with a loss of tonal richness and grandeur. In the outer movements, especially, tuttis sounded decidedly undernourished.
"Yet the performance provided recompense as well. At a flowing tempo, the Andante was floated with great purity and polished agility. Rarely will one hear the minuet taken at this frantic a clip, but the effect was undeniably invigorating, even if the trio's woodwinds sounding strangely like carnival sideshow music.
"Finlandia began the evening, led, oddly, not by Sibelius specialist Järvi, but Benjamin Shwartz. The conducting fellow's plodding introduction seemed more elephantine than ominous, yet his reading soon found its footing and rescued Sibelius' tone poem from pops-concert purgatory. The lean string tone in the second theme skirted schmaltz, and with brilliant brass playing, the conclusion made its clarion impact without descending to noisy vulgarity."
Copyright © 2005, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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