Move over,
Lang Lang, there’s a new sensation in the world of
classical-music-as-spectacle, and she springs onto the concert stage in a
backless, silver-sequinned mini-dress and five-inch stilettos.
I know: my
feminist roots scream, “Judge women by their works not their appearance!” But
it’s very hard not to embrace Yuja Wang for her engaging persona and killer
fashion sense as well as her considerable talent. The crowd roared as she
sprang onto the stage, with a friendly smile and infectious glee at joining the
Philadelphia Orchestra led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Questions
as to how she would navigate the pedals in those shoes quickly subsided as the
orchestral introduction of Chopin’s Piano Concerto #2 in f minor receded and Wang
took command of the stage with a warm, sonorous solo that soon morphed into a
winning partnership with the orchestra. Yannick interprets this light-weight
concerto with power and invests it with his unique ability to shape and mold
sound into a tapestry that satisfies both heart and mind. Perhaps it was too
majestic a Maestoso for traditional ears, but the emphasis on dramatic dynamics
and expressive pacing worked well as the two young artists, both so captivating
to watch, created a riveting musical journey throughout the three movements.
This is early Chopin, a composer who is not known for his mastery of
orchestration, but Yannick’s artfully carved sonorities and Wang’s masterful
ability to elicit meaning from ornamental ripples and trills did justice to a
work that can be weak and ephemeral in lesser hands.
After
three curtain calls at the performance I attended, Wang played one of her
favorite encores, the Rondo alla Turca
by Mozart, in a version that splices the master’s whimsical phrases with jazz improv
and bebop. A similar recent performance can be found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jmpXFXsJdA
Good as
the Chopin was, the real star of the evening was Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, a work everyone knows and no one listens to.
This is a huge, monster-sized symphony, with the orchestra sprawling across the
stage and skidding under the balconies. It’s one of those works, like
Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and
Beethoven’s Eroica, that changed
symphonic music forever. I honestly don’t know how anyone can conduct this work
and survive. Indeed our young, vigorous conductor took a couple of breaks
between movements to mop his brow with a handkerchief a la Pavarotti. Imagine nine brass players plus a choir of French
horns and more timpani than you can shake a stick at.
Once
again, Yannick showed he is a master of sculpting sound into appealing,
energizing, and reflective shapes, all leading to a unified, comprehensible
whole. But let’s face it: this is one nutty symphony, even grotesque, like an
overblown waltz for Tim Burton characters. Certainly, Berlioz claimed the work
was inspired by sex, drugs, and the beautiful actress, Harriet Smithson. This
is probably one work you can’t rehearse too often, and at the same time, it begs
a certain freedom from conventional performance. There were a couple of shrill
moments in the first movement, but they fit in with the macabre nature of a
five-movement work that ends with death on the scaffold and dreams of a
witches’ Sabbath. This is a totally fresh, if sometimes deafening approach to a
work probably too expensive to perform often in public, but worthy of every
music-lover’s attention, exploration, and rediscovery.
The
program opened with the Mongolian National
Anthem, a fetching tune with Eastern and Western influences, in honor of
the president of Mongolia, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, who
attended the performance on Friday afternoon. This was followed by our own Star-spangled Banner, which the audience
joined in, filling Verizon Hall with the magic of spontaneous singing and a
deeply felt passion for more peace, more unity, and more harmony among all
people.
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Yannick Nézet-Séguin - Conductor
Yuja Wang - Piano
Chopin – Piano Concerto #2 in F
minor, op. 21
Berlioz – Symphonie Fantastique, op.
14
Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center
8 p.m. September 22, 2 p.m.
September 23, and 8 p.m. September 24, 2016
Yuja Wang, file photo.
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