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Sunday, Sep 07, 2008
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Gerard Schwarz and Shostakovich make a great combo |
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| Gerard Schwarz and Shostakovich make a great combo | ||
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by Rod Parke -
SGN A&E Writer SEATTLE SYMPHONY CONCERT, WITH PIANIST ARNOLDO COHEN BENAROYA HALL NOVEMBER 17 When the Seattle Symphony and conductor Gerard Schwarz program Shostakovich, you're in for some fun - even if the music is often somber and demanding, as is true on this occasion. Adding to the evening's promise was the return of Brazilian pianist Arnoldo Cohen, this time with Liszt's "Piano Concerto No. 2." Maestro Schwarz began the program with a short, early work of Benjamin Britten: "Russian Funeral" for brass and percussion. What a pleasure to hear such excellent use of these forces! Even though several of the first-chair players were absent (waiting for the demanding symphony later in the show), the sounds produced by the SSO artists were impressively satisfying. As it happened, Britten used an authentic Russian funeral anthem as his main theme, which was the same source Shostakovich used in the third movement of his Eleventh Symphony, this evening's major work. Before the hour-long symphony, more fireworks and poetry filled our ears with the Liszt concerto. Arnoldo Cohen is a man of ordinary size but extraordinarily large hands and long fingers. His technique is equally formidable. Power, poetry, and elegance informed his performance. He drew a big, full sound from the Steinway and never seemed stressed by the technical demands of the concerto. One felt not only taste in his musicianship, but wisdom. The SSO (again minus those first-chair people) supported him sympathetically. Especially lovely was Joshua Roman's cello in his duet with Cohen. The Liszt was showy and fun, but the "meat" of the meal was yet to come. Shostakovich loved to use extreme dynamics. His Eleventh Symphony began with hushed strings and open harmonies underpinning an ominous, repeated pattern for solo tympani. (Timpanist Michael Crusoe, "out with wrist troubles," according to the man in front of me, was replaced by Ron Johnson. I missed Crusoe's musicality: how he shapes lines and shades dynamics.) Indeed, I felt the opening strings here were not as soft as they should have been. Movement away from this dark quiet was signaled by David Gordon's silver trumpet sound, swelling from soft to piercing radiance. From barely audible soft moments, the composer took us to such mountains of sound that two tubas were required to support it all! With this feast of orchestral brilliance, nearly every section had moments in which to shine. As is often the case with Maestro Schwarz, the beautifully sustained slow movement was best of all. Here he even put down his baton and "shaped" each phrase with both hands. This lament for the dead, following the massacre portrayed in the loud second movement, began with super-quiet plucked basses and celli, to which the violas eventually added the most gorgeous sound (the same melody Britten used in the work that opened this program). As each of the string sections joined, one by one, the individual timbres of each section were exposed to such advantage that one could only marvel at the composer's genius and the skill of our players. This hour-long symphony placed considerable demands on the audience. During the longer quiet passages, the intensity never failed to hold the listeners, such that not a cough was heard. The next day, I listened to my recording by the Berlin Philharmonic with conductor Semyon Bychkov and found it a pale experience compared to our own SSO under Gerard Schwarz. Reviewer Rod Parke can be reached at rod@sgn.org |
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