October 6, 2023 @ 1:30pm
Symphony Hall,
Boston, Massachusetts – USA
Andris Nelsons, conductor; Rudolf Buchbinder, piano.
BEETHOVEN: “Consecration of the House” Overture, Op.124
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 23 in A, K.488
Arturs MASKATS: Tango
Richard STRAUSS: Suite from Der Rosenkavalier
Karl Henning | 9 OCT 2023
Above the stage in Boston’s Symphony Hall, there is inscribed the name of but one composer: Beethoven, as there was no agreement on any others to flesh out a musical community. I’ve always smiled on reading that name up there, less a testimony to Beethoven’s inarguable greatness than to the rarefied snobbery of the early twentieth-century Brahmins.
The Consecration of the House Overture (Opus 124, composed for the inauguration of the newly rebuilt Josefstadt Theater on October 3, 1822) was first performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra to open its inaugural season on October 22, 1860, conducted by Georg Henschel. Beethoven’s title for the overture is Die Weihe des Hauses. On the Boston Symphony program for that concert, “Weihe” is rendered as “Dedication,” Inviting us to wonder if the Bostonians, whose fussy prudery would become proverbial—witness “Banned in Boston”—considered “Consecration” to verge upon sacrilege.
Among the composers Beethoven regarded highly (though their names be absent above the Symphony Hall Stage) was George Frideric Handel. Beethoven treasured a forty-volume edition of Handel’s works, and the model he looked toward for his Opus 124 was the “French Overture.” In this evening’s performance, there was a bracing crispness as well as the expected muscle.
The BSO is rather more orchestra than is fitting for a Mozart concerto, so the numbers in the strings were reduced for his Piano Concerto No. 23 in A, K.488. Soloist Rudolf Buchbinder’s touch was unerring and graceful, and if once or twice he did “lean into” the nine-foot Steinway, (a) who could blame him? and (b) the result was always musical and well-judged.
BSO music director Andris Nelsons and pianist Rudolf Buchbinder, in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A, K.488. (credit: Robert Torres)
I well remember from my time in Tallinn, Estonia, the fascination with and affection for the tango, which is endemic to the entire Baltic region. Hence, a piece named Tango by a Latvian composer surprises me not in the least. Arturs Maskats states that he wanted to do for the tango what Ravel did for the waltz in his 1920’s La Valse.
I leave it to others to judge if this goal was met, but the ambition has yielded a piece that is undeniably a musical success and a crowd-pleaser in the best sense. The inclusion of a harpsichord in the scoring was a nice, quirky Schnittkean touch. More obviously characteristic was the inclusion of the bandoneon, which the celebrated tango composer Astor Piazzolla referred to as “the devil’s instrument” in reference to its design and technical challenges.
Although waltzes from Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier were included in Pops concerts as early as May 1911 (a scant four months after the opera’s première), the first performance by the Boston Symphony proper of any music from the opera was this Suite, in January of 1949. The arrangement is generally attributed to Artur Rodziński, who led the New York Philharmonic-Symphony in its first performance on October 5, 1944.
Throughout this program, it was clear to my ears that Maestro Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony collaborate marvelously, and musical partnership shone brightest in the sumptuous Strauss Suite. One can see as well as hear the delight they all take in performing superbly together, and for myself, this is the best I have ever enjoyed music from Der Rosenkavalier. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Boston Symphony Orchestra: bso.org
- Andris Nelsons: andrisnelsons.com
- Rudolf Buchbinder buchbinder.net/en
Read more by Karl Henning.
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