Music Review: NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo at Carnegie Hall

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Friday, 25 March 2011 05:00

Written by Jack Angstreich

On March 21st, 2011, I attended an excellent concert given by the superb NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo, under the direction of celebrated conductor (and composer) André Previn, at Carnegie Hall, a part of the JapanNYC Festival.

The program began with an unscheduled, beautiful rendition of Johann Sebastian Bach's haunting and renowned "Air" from his third Orchestral Suite, in tribute to the victims of the recent disaster in Japan.

The first scheduled work was a magisterial reading of extraordinary composer Toru Takemitsu's early, uncanny Green from 1967. (Takemitsu's remarkable body of work was surveyed earlier in the festival.

Legendary soprano, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa then took the stage to join the orchestra for an sensitive performance of Richard Strauss's moving, late masterpiece, Four Last Songs. While Te Kanawa's voice has now lost some power, she evidently has a keen understanding of her limitations as a singer, and within them, she succeeded in achieving a luminous account.

The concert concluded with a solid, accomplished reading of Sergei Prokofiev's popular, great Fifth Symphony. Previn and the musicians received an enthusiastic response.

Performers

NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo

André Previn, Principal Guest Conductor

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Soprano

Program

"Air" from third Orchestral Suite by JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

 Green by TŌRU TAKEMITSU

Four Last Songsby RICHARD STRAUSS

Symphony No. 5 by SERGEI PROKOFIEV

Carnegie Hall
881 7th Avenue
New York, NY 10019
212-247-7800

www.carnegiehall.org

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