New York Philharmonic – Paavo Järvi conducts Nielsen Five, with Yefim Bronfman playing Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto

A frequent visitor to the Philharmonic, having appeared with the orchestra over 150 times since his debut in 1978, Yefim Bronfman was a commanding presence on the as he delivered aglowing performance of Beethoven’s C-minor Piano Concerto. The orchestra and Paavo Järvi molded an exquisite rendition of the opening exposition. Then, with Bronfman’s first entry, the music-making rose to an even higher level, the balance in consistently fine tune and the piano shining through in all the right places. Bronfman played elegantly throughout, with uncommonly clean attack and clear articulation. The most memorable moments in the movement were his dramatic and poignant traversal of the cadenza and the intimate exchanges between the piano and woodwinds. The beautifully meditative central Largo, beginning with the chorale-like piano, was distinguished by high contrasts, followed by a sparkling account of the dance-like Finale, exuberant throughout but with an especially vigorous ending. There was an encore: a graceful rendering of the Andante from Schubert’s A-minor Sonata, D784.

The second half was taken up by Carl Nielsen’s groundbreaking Fifth Symphony, which divided early critics, one calling it ‘filthy music from the trenches’ and another praising it as ‘the treasure of Danish symphonies’. Nielsen himself described it as ‘the division of dark and light, the battle between evil and good’, cast in two multi-sectional movements. The Philharmonic delivered an impressive performance, opening with a strong sense of atmosphere, allowing the mystery of the first movement to fully register. Järvi brought out all the work’s pent-up tension and conflict as he shaped its thorny statements into long and blossoming crescendos. Most notable were Anthony McGill’s seductively winding melodies on clarinet and Christopher S. Lamb’s insistent snare-drum playing ad libitum. The complex, frequently frenetic second movement erupted energetically, with the bright brass a powerful presence in the first and faster of the two fugues, and the slower strings wonderfully articulated in the slower second. At the close all was satisfyingly resolved in a radiant and uplifting conclusion.

The post New York Philharmonic – Paavo Järvi conducts Nielsen Five, with Yefim Bronfman playing Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto appeared first on The Classical Source.

A frequent visitor to the Philharmonic, having appeared with the orchestra over 150 times since his debut in 1978, Yefim Bronfman was a commanding presence on the as he delivered aglowing performance of Beethoven’s C-minor Piano Concerto. The orchestra and Paavo Järvi molded an exquisite rendition of the opening exposition. Then, with Bronfman’s first entry, the music-making rose to an even higher level, the balance in consistently fine tune and the piano shining through in all the right places. Bronfman played elegantly throughout, with uncommonly clean attack and clear articulation. The most memorable moments in the movement were his dramatic and poignant traversal of the cadenza and the intimate exchanges between the piano and woodwinds. The beautifully meditative central Largo, beginning with the chorale-like piano, was distinguished by high contrasts, followed by a sparkling account of the dance-like Finale, exuberant throughout but with an especially vigorous ending. There was an encore: a graceful rendering of the Andante from Schubert’s A-minor Sonata, D784.

The second half was taken up by Carl Nielsen’s groundbreaking Fifth Symphony, which divided early critics, one calling it ‘filthy music from the trenches’ and another praising it as ‘the treasure of Danish symphonies’. Nielsen himself described it as ‘the division of dark and light, the battle between evil and good’, cast in two multi-sectional movements. The Philharmonic delivered an impressive performance, opening with a strong sense of atmosphere, allowing the mystery of the first movement to fully register. Järvi brought out all the work’s pent-up tension and conflict as he shaped its thorny statements into long and blossoming crescendos. Most notable were Anthony McGill’s seductively winding melodies on clarinet and Christopher S. Lamb’s insistent snare-drum playing ad libitum. The complex, frequently frenetic second movement erupted energetically, with the bright brass a powerful presence in the first and faster of the two fugues, and the slower strings wonderfully articulated in the slower second. At the close all was satisfyingly resolved in a radiant and uplifting conclusion.

The post New York Philharmonic – Paavo Järvi conducts Nielsen Five, with Yefim Bronfman playing Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto appeared first on The Classical Source.