New York Philharmonic Perform Wagner, Beethoven & Brahms

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Tuesday, 09 January 2024 15:04

Written by Jack Angstreich

Jaap van Zweden leads the New York Philharmonic with soloist Rudolf Buchbinder at David Geffen Hall. Photo by Chris Lee

At Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall on the afternoon of Friday, January 5th, I had the pleasure of attending an excellent concert—continuing a strong season —presented by the New York Philharmonic, conducted by its Music Director, Jaap van Zweden. 

The program opened brilliantly with what may have been its highlight, a sterling account of Richard Wagner’s glorious Prelude to Act I of his magnificent opera, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. The celebrated virtuoso, Rudolf Buchbinder, then joined the artists for a marvelous performance—with him playing the composer’s own cadenzas—of Ludwig van Beethoven’s extraordinary Piano Concerto No. 4. The initial Allegro moderato movement begins with a brief, meditative introduction—with proto-Mendelssohnian qualities—and a reflective mood is sustained throughout, although balanced by both playful and dramatic elements. The ensuing Andante con moto is more solemn and inward and almost avant-garde at one point; in contrast, the finale, marked Vivace, is ebullient on the whole, but with both suspenseful and lyrical passages.

The second half of the event was also remarkable, an admirable realization of the beautiful Symphony No. 4 of Johannes Brahms. The first—Allegro non troppo—movement is melodious, deeply Romantic in inspiration, and almost dance-like at times. Much of the succeeding, graceful Andante moderato is affirmative, if more interior in orientation, but also with more robust episodes, while the scherzo that follows, with a tempo of Allegro giocoso, is exuberant, even rambunctious. The memorable finale for many measuresis surprisingly subdued but closes triumphantly. The ensemble, deservedly, was enthusiastically applauded.