Photo by Chris Lee

At Carnegie Hall, on the evening of Monday, February 21st, I had the great pleasure to hear the excellent musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra—under the remarkable direction of the irrepressible Yannick Nézet-Séguin—in the wonderful closing concert of their complete cycle of the magnificent symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven. 

 

The program began splendidly with a confident account of the beautiful First Symphony. After a stately and somewhat suspenseful introduction, the main body of the first movement sounded Mozartean even in its weightier moments. Indeed, the spirits of both Beethoven’s idol Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and maybe even more so that of his teacher Franz Joseph Haydn were unmistakable in the ensuing graceful, melodious Andante cantabile.The tumultuous, scherzo-likeMenuettospoke most characteristically in the composer’s own voice, while the closingAllegrowas even more energetic.

 

After an intermission, the musicians were joined by the superior Philadelphia Symphonic Choir, directed by Joe Miller, for a compelling realization of the world premiere of the powerful, impressively scored Pachamama Meets an Ode by Gabriela Lena Frank, who is currently composer-in-residence with The Philadelphia Orchestra. The program notes usefully commented:

 

“In this new commission for The Philadelphia Orchestra, Frank was asked to compose a work in dialogue with Beethoven’s First and Ninth symphonies, part of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. The commission stipulated that she use the same orchestration as Beethoven while responding to these particular symphonies through her own creative lens. The work was to have received its world premiere in April 2020, but those concerts were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

 

The annotator added: “In Pachamama Meets an Ode, Frank conjectures a meeting between Beethoven and an artist of the Cusco School who is painting his scenes in a Spanish-style church, built on the ruins of an Inca temple. Frank’s own lyrics, partly adapted from an earlier work (Three Myths of My Land, 2009), tell of the Cusco painter hiding ‘spirits from bygone native cultures amidst European figurines, equipping them with protective natural talismans and friendly fauna.’” The composer, who was seated with the audience, rose to acknowledge the audience’s appreciation.

 

The highlight of the evening, however, was an enthralling rendition of the astonishing, titanic Ninth Symphony. The work opened mysteriously and after a prolonged sequence of inventive divagations, finally achieved a monumental grandeur, as the conductor maintained an admirable rhythmic control. Equally dynamic was the vigorous, imposing Scherzo and the enchanted Adagio that followed had a celestial majesty. After an eccentric, extended introductory “recitative” section, the amazing finale ascended into a glorious dimension with the emergence of the “Ode to Joy” theme and the subsequent entry of the superb soloists and chorus; much musical elaboration preceded the stunning, triumphantly affirmative conclusion. There was rapturous applause for all the performers who included: the outstanding soprano Angel Blue, who appeared with this ensemble at this venue the previous week for an exquisite version of Samuel Barber’s gorgeous Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and the New York premiere of a piece by contemporary composer Valerie Coleman; mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb; tenor Matthew Polenzani whose lovely voice has been an asset to the Metropolitan Opera and who gave a fabulous song recital at Alice Tully Hall several years ago as a part of the Great Performers series; and finally bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green. 

 

Both the Philadelphia Orchestra and Nézet-Séguin will return to Carnegie Hall later this season.