Bamberg Symphony Play Carnegie Hall

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Monday, 29 April 2024 14:22

Written by Jack Angstreich

Photo by Chris Lee.

At Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium on the evening of Wednesday, April 24th, I had the privilege to attend a fine concert of 19th-century Germanic music presented by the admirable Bamberg Symphony under the distinguished direction of its Chief Conductor, Jakub Hrůša.

The program began auspiciously with one of its highlights, a marvelous account of Richard Wagner’s magnificent Prelude to his beautiful 1848 opera, Lohengrin, about which Franz Liszt said, “With Lohengrin,the old world of opera has come to an end.” Also rewarding was an accomplished reading of the superb Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90, from 1883 of Johannes Brahms, about which the eminent critic Eduard Hanslick wrote:

Many music lovers may prefer the titanic force of the First, others the untroubled charm of the Second. But the Third strikes me as artistically the most perfect. It is more compactly made, more transparent in detail, more plastic in the main themes. The orchestration is richer in novel and charming combinations.

The initial Allegro con brio movement opens passionately but then swiftly becomes song-like—even pastoral—in character before recovering its original intensity and finishing quietly, while the Andante that follows is more inward in orientation although at times dramatic, also ending gently. The succeeding, extraordinary, melodious Poco allegretto that concludes softly too—the primary theme of which was the basis for the haunting Serge Gainsbourg song, “Baby Alone in Babylone,” which was originally recorded by Jane Birkin—was another of the night’s most memorable experiences, and the work’s finale begins tentatively but rapidly acquires an urgency but amidst some turbulence soon turns affirmative on the whole—even exuberantly so—before another subdued close.

The second half of the evening was also impressive, starting with a brilliant, even dazzling performance of Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54, completed in 1845, played by the wonderful soloist, Hélène Grimaud. Annotator Jack Sullivan reports that:

The first movement, composed in 1841, was originally labeled a “Phantasy for Piano and Orchestra.” Clara Schumann—who earlier had composed her own piano concerto—played it in two private run-throughs, writing at the time, “Carefully studied, it must give the greatest pleasure to those who hear it. The piano is most skillfully interwoven with the orchestra; it is impossible to think of one without the other.” Schumann tried to publish it as a separate piece, but no one would buy it.

Rather than abandoning the Phantasy, Robert revised it four years later as the first movement of a piano concerto, adding two more movements. Clara finally premiered the entire work in 1845, with Felix Mendelssohn conducting.

About it, the esteemed critic, Sir Donald Francis Tovey, averred, “It attains a beauty and depth quite transcendent of any mere prettiness, though the whole concerto, like all Schumann’s deepest music, is recklessly pretty.” The first movement, marked Allegro affettuoso, is exciting at its outset but abruptly becomes lyrical and Romantic with tempestuous episodes, and concludes forcefully; in the development section, a brief interlude for the piano, clarinet and strings is particularly exquisite. The ensuing, largely reflective Intermezzo—an Andantino grazioso—is elegantand enchanting; it seamlessly transitions into the animated, often propulsive, ultimately triumphant finale, an Allegro vivace with a dynamic close.

Another pinnacle of the concert was what completed the program proper, a thrilling realization of Wagner’s ambitious, glorious Overture to Tannhäuser from 1845. The composer described its middle section thus: 

As night falls, magic visions show themselves. A rosy mist swirls upward, sensuously exultant sounds reach our ears, and the blurred motions of a fearsomely voluptuous dance are revealed. This is the seductive magic of the Venusberg, which appears by night to those whose souls are fired by bold, sensuous longings.

Enthusiastic applause elicited two short but delightful encores: Brahms’s Hungarian Dances Nos. 18 and 21, both orchestrated by Antonín Dvořák.

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