Orchestre National de France Performs Debussy & More at Carnegie Hall

Details

Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Friday, 05 December 2025 14:58

Written by Jack Angstreich

Photo by Stefan Cohen

At the wonderful Stern Auditorium, on the afternoon of Sunday, November 9th, I had the privilege to attend an excellent concert—presented by Carnegie Hall—featuring the superb musicians of the Orchestre National de France, led with great distinction by its Music Director and Conductor, Cristian Măcelaru.

The event started admirably with a fine account of Elsa Barraine’s seldom heard but striking Symphony No. 2, “Voina,” from 1938. After a brief, Adagio introduction for winds, the main body of the Allegro moderato movement swiftly intensifies and is frequently turbulent but with sometimes haunting, more reflective passages—it finishes forcefully. The ensuing Marche funèbre is somewhat lugubrious and moody while the Allegretto Finale is spirited and quirky, with charming elements but also moments of mystery, ending emphatically.

The renowned soloist Daniil Trifonov then entered the stage for an impressive version of Maurice Ravel’s popular Piano Concerto in G Major, completed in 1931. The initial, Allegramente movement opens playfully but a more jazzy, introspective interlude influenced by George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue follows—it becomes much livelier and concludes dynamically. The succeeding Adagio assai is more interior and lyrical—the most exquisite of the movements, it has some of the Romantic emotionalism encountered in the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff and it closes softly. The Presto finale is ebullient and dazzling and the most virtuosic of the movements—it builds in suspense and excitement, ending suddenly, if wittily.

Trifonov returned at the beginning of the event’s second half for a superb rendition of Camille Saint-Saëns’s pleasurable Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 22, composed in 1868. The Andante sostenuto first movement starts passionately—with a cadenza—but in its main body, it is at first inward and song-like but it becomes more “purple” and opulent as it develops—there are some lovely episodes and it finishes with a powerful statement. The subsequent Allegro scherzando is vivacious, fittingly ludic, and often delightful, concluding gently. The Presto finale is ultimately exhilarating in its forward momentum, closing triumphantly. Enthusiastic applause elicited an extraordinary encore from the pianist: Claude Debussy’s "Reflets dans l'eau" from his collection, Images.

The highlight of the program, however, was its here brilliantly realized final work: Ravel’s glorious Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2–the ballet score from which this is excerpted was described by Igor Stravinsky as “Not only Ravel’s best work, but also one of the most beautiful products of French music.” The initial selection, Lever du jour, is splendorous and mystical while the Pantomime that it precedes is less abstract and sumptuous; lastly, the mesmerizing Danse générale ends arrestingly. A standing ovation was rewarded with another outstanding encore: the same composer’s entrancing Boléro.

• Next >