In both Stravinsky's Suite from Pulcinella and Mozart's 39th Symphony, the orchestra, under the baton of guest conductor Jun Märkl, sizzled with excitement. I am a little near sighted, and I finally bought my first pair of eyeglasses the day before this concert, so the genuine, childlike joy and excitement on Märkl's face was crystal clear to me from where me and my girlfriend sat in seats B-1 and B-2 in the Founder's Tier Boxes.
Märkl led the orchestra with such authentic enthusiasm, seeming to craft expertly nuanced phrases out of the air with his delicate hand motions and inspiring, lively presence. I must say I've had some trepidations about the number of unknown guest conductors visiting the Seattle Symphony this year, but if they are all of Märkl's level, I have nothing to complain about.
I had originally purchased my tickets (Founder's Tier Box B-7 and B-8) on November 20th, but the night before the concert I noticed that B-1 and B-2 had opened up, which are my favorite seats in the hall. At 1:00pm yesterday, when the ticket office phone lines opened, I called in and had my tickets exchanged! So when we arrived at Benaroya Hall at around 7:20, the first thing we did was go exchange my old tickets for the new ones waiting at will call.
Then we went up to the first tier balcony in the lobby to observe the dress code of the crowd milling in the lobby below. It was atrocious. Only once in a while would you see a man in a suit, and women were dressed similarly. While there wasn't a lot of torn or dirty clothes, the dress code of the Seattle audience has essentially been reduced to "nice" day to day clothes. It is brought about by this kind of dictatorship of cultural degradation that we see all around our society today. People say "we don't want to dress nice, so if you want us to buy tickets, don't force us to dress nice" and an organization like the Seattle Symphony has no choice but to bow to the wishes of the rabble.
Why does the audience not desire to dress up? Why do young people come in with misfit, casual clothes, perhaps with their shirt tucked in as a token effort, as if to say "I understand I'm going to the symphony, so I'll tuck in my shirt, but don't bother me any further"?
In any case, after grumbling about cultural decline for a few minutes, we made our way to our seats around 7:40, in time to watch the majority of the audience come shuffling in. It was a well sold show, with at least 85% or 90% of the seats sold I would say, which is a blessing in Seattle.
I had familiarized myself with the Stravinsky a little bit beforehand, listening to it a few times on YouTube, but I think that even if this had been my first hearing of it, I would have been captivated by the excellence of the orchestra. When a piece is executed well, it will hold your attention regardless of how familiar you are with it.
Principal cellist Efe Baltacigil was a joy to watch. He seemed an enlightened being in the orchestra, leading his section with subtle and expressive mastery, communicating with other sections of the ensemble as if these pieces, and this night, were the most exciting moments of his life. The brilliant enthusiasm and involvement of Maestro Märkl complimented Baltacigil's energy in the orchestra, but they were not the only two on stage to exhibit a wonderful sense of presence and excitement. Players throughout the orchestra seemed to be energized, giving me the sense that they are fully aware of how wonderful they sound, and that their orchestra is likely on the rise to a higher stature nationally and internationally.
Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto was a piece I was looking forward to hearing in last night's concert, because while it doesn't have a lot of emotional depth or compositional mastery, it is entertaining, dramatic, and has an abundance of virtuosic passages for the pianist. I had my doubts about HJ Lim's ability to play with any subtlety or emotional depth, but was looking forward to at least being dazzled by a robotic display of technical brilliance. Unfortunately, she couldn't even deliver that. Superficial, pretentious body language attempted to act as substitute for all that was missing in her performance, which included everything musical and emotional, and disappointingly, sometimes the notes themselves. Instead of enjoying the thrilling roller coaster of virtuosic passages in the piece, I found myself cringing and hoping that she'll survive through each one. Whenever it became technically difficult, notes would get muddled, destroying the last modest enjoyment that the performance of an immature, childish musician had the potential of delivering.
Of course she received the typical standing ovation in classic Seattle style. Fast notes + dramatic facial expressions = standing ovation here. She was called back to the stage just a few times before she decided to give an encore. She sat down at the piano, and what followed next was truly ridiculous. She played a solo piano version of Rachmaninoff's Vocalise, but it took me a few moments to register what it was that she was playing, because it was about twice the speed that anybody else has ever played it. It was during this piece that my impression of her as immature and childish was solidified in my mind. The speed at which she played it was really like a bad joke.
But the pleasant surprises weren't over yet. After more applause and returning only a couple more times to the stage, she played another encore, which she announced the title of, but I wasn't able to catch it. It was a loud, fast, funny sounding, slightly dissonant piece, which was mildly entertaining at best. I was relieved when the audience finally stopped clapping and intermission commenced.
My girlfriend and I made our way to the Friends Lounge, just off of the first tier balcony in the lobby. Interestingly, they didn't ask me to confirm my donor status before letting us in. There weren't many people in there, and we stood at the railing overlooking the eating area outside the lobby.
The couple sitting with us in the front row of Box B didn't return after intermission, and there were a few other small pockets of empty seats throughout the hall as well. This is fairly common at orchestral concerts where the orchestra by itself is not considered to be that great, and some people come only to hear the soloist featured in the first half. This phenomenon was made even more poignant at this event by the fact that the piece featured in the second half was none other than Mozart's 39th Symphony, a work that is extremely difficult to pull off, and can easily leave the audience bored if not executed with mastery. Mozart is always difficult for an orchestra to play, as it renders everything exposed. Tone quality, intonation, ensemble unity, balance; if anything is off, it is clearly noticeable in Mozart. And on top of that this symphony is the kind of 'black sheep' of his final trilogy of symphonies; the one that does not have an explicit appeal in any way, exercising its brilliance on a much more subtle level than in the 40th and the 41st symphonies. This was a true test for the Seattle Symphony.
From the opening chord of the first movement to the last fleeting gesture of the finale, the orchestra really, truly delivered. Under the inspired guidance of Maestro Märkl, the orchestra executed the only performance of this symphony that I've ever heard that didn't leave me slightly bored and waiting for the end. It was miraculous. The tone quality and togetherness of the violin sections were almost impeccable, the lower strings interactions with them involved and authentic. Märkl and the orchestra put a life in this work that I had never heard before. It absolutely sparkled from beginning to end.
The slow movement, perhaps some of the most difficult and exposed music that an orchestra can play, was delivered with warmth, clarity, and genuine, engaging musicality. And even the Minuet and Trio, containing what is arguably some of the simplest music one can find within the masterworks of a composer like Mozart, succeeded to engage and enthrall me at the highest level.
The finale of the symphony was truly remarkable. Pure joy and excitement reverberated from the stage. Baltacigil looked like a five year old boy on Christmas morning, glancing at the concertmaster eagerly, playing counterpoint to the winds, leading his section with refined boisterousness. The orchestra as a whole seemed to be high on life, and Markl's inspired direction brought the finale to the level of the spiritual. As the movement cascaded through one joyous, excited passage after another, I felt connected to the divine, seeing these people and this orchestra in the context of creation and the entirety of the universe. What are the odds that in the whole sphere of existence, a group of beings such as this would come to be, and be able to make such music together? The light of childlike joy was kindled within me, and I found myself deeply wishing that the movement would never come to an end.
As we left the hall, my desire to attend as many concerts as possible was heightened, and my decision to subscribe to the full twenty-one concert series for 2013-2014 was completely solidified. The Seattle Symphony is definitely on the rise.
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