Tchaikovsky & Prokofiev With The Israel Philharmonic

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Tuesday, 29 November 2022 14:43

Written by Jack Angstreich

Israel Philharmonic performs. Photo by Chris Lee

At Carnegie Hall, on the evening of Monday, November 14th, I had the pleasure of attending an excellent concert featuring the Israel Philharmonic under the admirable direction of Lahav Shani.

The ensemble opened the event by playing “The Star Spangled Banner” and “Hatikvah.” The program proper began wonderfully with the marvelous Violin Concerto—a paragon of High Romanticism inspired by Edouard Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole—of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, which received an accomplished performance by the celebrated soloist, Gil Shaham. The memorable, initial Allegro moderato was enchanting, dramatic and suspenseful, with passages of intense lyricism, and the extraordinary Canzonetta movement that followed was even more sustainedly beautiful, while theFinalewas dazzling in its display of virtuosity. Enthusiastic applause elicited a superb encore from Shaham: the Gavotte en rondeau from the Partita No. 3, BWV 1006, one of the greatest works ever written for solo violin.

The second half of the evening was even more impressive with an effective account of Sergei Prokofiev’s magnificent Symphony No. 5. The opening Andante is frequently majestic despite a brooding quality for much of its length. The ensuing Allegro marcato, the ethos of which evokes the composer’s glorious ballet scores such as Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella, is a charming, ingenious Scherzo with an inventive trio section, and the Adagio that succeeds it is solemn by contrast, even portentous. In the finale, after a hushed introduction, the music is satirical—again reminiscent of the ballets—and builds to a powerfully affirmative conclusion. The appreciation of the audience was rewarded with another terrific encore: the exalting Fanfare to Israel by Paul Ben-Haim.

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