Alex Yates

"Zwilich Trumpet Concerto Replaces Horn Concerto on New York Philharmonic Program"

This supposedly took place this past weekend. Did anyone hear it? Any comments on the piece?

JJ

Here's the NY Times review:

A couple of years ago, the New York Philharmonic introduced a June series of what might be called "B" fare, "Summertime Classics," led by Bramwell Tovey, a British conductor able to intersperse his performances with humorous patter in a fond, avuncular mode. Mr. Tovey has now made it onto the orchestra's regular season calendar, bringing with him a certain number of admirers and a sense of the "B" level. On Thursday night he conducted a staid, unobjectionable program that showed the orchestra at its most average.

Gluey Mozart. Long, drawn-out Franck. And, in the middle, cleaving through with a flash of brass, the opening of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's "American Concerto" for trumpet, a late substitution for Ms. Zwilich's originally scheduled horn concerto. The trumpet concerto was an able piece that moved through its entire course sounding at every moment as if something were just about to happen, with a sense of building climaxes or impending adagios. But it never quite delivered on its promise, seeming finally to be a collection of gestures rather than a fully satisfying continuum. Philip Smith, the orchestra's principal trumpeter, was the very good soloist. (Philip Myers, the principal horn player, had withdrawn for personal reasons, necessitating the switch.)

The evening seemed partly intended to highlight the orchestra's strengths, featuring principals as soloists — Glenn Dicterow, the concertmaster, performed that role in Mozart's Third Violin Concerto — alongside a huge ensemble piece, Franck's D minor Symphony. But those strengths never actually emerged. Both Mozart pieces on the program — the concerto and the overture to "The Marriage of Figaro," which opened the evening — sounded heavy and uninspired. Mr. Dicterow is a fine violinist, so it was disappointing to hear the concerto sound routine. Accustomed to blending with this ensemble, he fit in almost too well; his lines were not quite as incisive or soaring as they could have been.

Mr. Tovey stayed abreast of the music. Absent, though, was a sense of architecture, both of the individual pieces and of the evening as a whole. The Franck, certainly, was a long ebb and flow, growing louder and softer, but nebulous in form. It was an evening of bluntness that desperately needed honing.

JJ

bftrumpet

An archived recording will be on the New York Philharmonic website later this month!!!


Here's how to listen:

go to www.nyphil.org
put your mouse over "attend concerts" -- a drop down menu will appear
click "broadcasts"
select "The New York Philharmonic This Week"
The Zwilich Concerto will appear online from April 26-May 10.

Ben Fairfield

Alex Yates

Hey Ben! Nice to see you! Thanks so much for the heads-up. I can't wait to give it a listen.