The program consisted of some Dvořák Slavonic Dances, Bartók's Rumanian Folk Dances, a Toccata by a Bulgarian composer named Pancho Vladigerov, a few Brahms Hungarian Dances, the Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor by Borodin, and lastly Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, with Lang Lang as soloist.
Before the house lights dimmed the chorus took to the stage behind the orchestra, and then when Morlot stepped on the podium he gave a cue to the pianist who commenced in a flamboyant rolling chord atop which the chorus burst forth in the National Anthem. The whole audience stood up appropriately, and it was really nice to have the evening start off that way.
Then the chorus exited and Morlot returned to the podium to start the first Slavonic Dance by Dvořák. It was a delightfully festive piece, and he began it with great excitement, actually interrupting the applause from the audience. It was the perfect piece to open an Opening Night concert, and the orchestra was clearly in high spirits and top form.
The second Slavonic Dance contained much richer music and gave the strings a chance to really shine, particularly the violins, who had gorgeous, iconic melodies that took them high up on the e-string. It was really a pleasure to bask in the music-making being delivered by the musicians. Bartók's Rumanian Folk Dances followed. I felt very familiar with almost all of them, and they were also performed extremely well.
Before the next piece (the Valdigerov) Morlot picked up a microphone and spoke to the audience about the theme of the concert and how it's more Eastern European this year, as opposed to American themed on Opening Night last year. He then revealed that he picked the Bulgarian Seattle Symphony Assistant Conductor Stilian Kirov to conduct the Toccata by the Bulgarian Pancho Vladigerov.
Kirov came across as a very suave young man, and he was the spitting image of the excited, fresh, eager, nervous, contained, crisp conductor. He seemed a little too involved with his image as a budding conductor and with what his presence on stage yesterday would contribute to that. His movements were brisk and curt, and he often gave the orchestra fake smiles.
That was all over after not too long, and Morlot returned to conduct the Brahms Hungarian Dances. I was disappointed that they didn't perform No. 5, which has always been my personal favorite. However, No. 1 is my second favorite and that's the first one they played. The other two (No. 3 and No. 2) I was not that familiar with, but the orchestra maintained their stellar quality throughout all of them. I wish that the excitement of opening night and the involvement of the players could stick 100% through every concert throughout the season.
After the Brahms dances the chorus returned to the stage for Borodin's Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor.
Once in a while there is a piece by a lesser known composer that makes me ask the question "Are Bach, Mozart and Beethoven really that much greater than the rest of them?" The answer of course is yes, and yet sometimes a work from somebody like Borodin shows up that makes me ask that question, and also "how did he do it?" Music does not get much better than what Borodin gifted us with in his Polovtsian Dances. The famous melody of course is stunningly beautiful and haunting, and the melodies and harmonies throughout the work are just magnificent; a truly wonderful gift to the world of music. The difference though is that I could listen to this piece a hundred times, and then be sick of it for a very long time. I wouldn't get sick of Bach, Mozart or Beethoven in the same way.
Intermission followed the Borodin. We got up and wandered around the lobby. I wanted to get my tickets printed for some of the upcoming concerts but we accidentally waited in line at the merchandise booth rather than the Ticket Concierge booth, so that didn't end up happening.
There was a black tie gala at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel following yesterday's concert (the concert was at 4pm), and even though we weren't going to it (cheapest tickets were $650) I decided to dress black tie because it was opening night. There were only a handful of other people dressed black tie there, and I assume most if not all of them were headed to the gala afterwards.
After intermission Lang Lang performed Prokofiev's 3rd piano concerto. Lang Lang is one of the most notorious figures in the new age phenomenon of pretentious, exaggerated, self-indulgent playing to compensate for actual deep understanding of the music. He embodies the awful trend of classical music taking on the form of pop culture and presenting "stars" in a similar fashion. I knew all of this before we went, and so I expected to be entertained at best.
Lang Lang did have an immaculate technical grasp of the work. Fortunately I couldn't see his face from where we were sitting, but his hand gestures and body language revealed all too well how much he was going overboard with the acting in order to win over the masses sitting wide-eyed throughout the hall. However, the Prokofiev piano concerto seemed to be primarily a virtuosic work intended for the pianist to show off technical prowess, and Lang Lang certainly did excel in that regard. Unlike HJ Lim when she performed Mendelssohn back in January, Lang Lang did compensate for musical shallowness with technical brilliance. And since I was not familiar with the Prokofiev concerto and so could not pick up on any deep subtleties in the music that he may have slaughtered, I more or less enjoyed most of the performance. It was clearly high quality music, just not a musical language that I am familiar with, and Lang Lang's hands blazing over the keys was at times mesmerizing to observe.
After the first movement the audience broke out in raucous applause. It was by far the loudest applause-before-the-piece-is-over I had ever heard. And at the end of the concerto the ovation was deafening. Voices cried out in exuberant approval, and the sound of 2,500 pairs of hands clapping passionately thundered through the auditorium. In retrospect I thought "So this is how musical depth and maturity dies; to thunderous applause." No worries if you don't get the reference.
Lang Lang was called back to the stage by the applause three or four times before he sat back down on the piano bench. He then announced that he had a Chopin nocturne for this special Seattle Symphony Opening Night.
*insert face-palm*
Everything bad about him that was hidden by the nature of the Prokofiev concerto and the technical brilliance he displayed now came leeching out from the stage like a noxious ink. He raised his right arm in the air and ever so slowly moved it towards the first note of the piece, creating instantly an atmosphere of sickening pretentiousness and shallow melodrama. The execution of the work followed like a reflection from that first agonizing motion, a tortured, mutilated catastrophe, utterly crushed by the oppressive weight of a performer with no depth or wisdom merely using the notes as pawns to spin a web of false profundity.
He was called back to the stage several more times after the Chopin, and by this point I was in a bit of a depression. But then something caught my eye which truly terrified me. Efe Baltacigil, the stellar new principal cellist of the Seattle Symphony, appeared to be applauding Lang Lang sincerely and heartedly. The whole orchestra applauds by default as the soloist returns to stage multiple times, but Efe in particular was giving thoughtful intent to each clap, his face aglow with the expression of having just been deeply moved, and his head shook slightly from side to side in apparent disbelief at Lang Lang's mastery.
I immediately thought to myself that he better be putting on an act or we have a very serious problem. If Efe Baltacigil was genuinely moved by Lang Lang's performance of the Chopin, that means that everything great about Efe's playing is not there because Efe has an understanding of why that's the way to play, but because he just happens to have been trained that way. It would mean that Efe is not acting as a cultural pillar, as any kind of rock to prevent the chaotic waves of modern sentiments from breaking asunder the fabric on which great classical performances are sewn. It would mean that his mastery is up for grabs, that he presents what he does by coincidence and does nothing to try to preserve it in this world, and in fact does not even realize that there is something great that needs to be preserved and is at risk of being lost.
We can only hope he was acting.
In any case, all in all it was a fantastic opening night concert. Next up is Morlot Conducts Ravel on September 21st!
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http://www.seattlesymphony.org/symphony/buy/single/production.aspx?id=13742&src=t&dateid=13742
http://www.seattlesymphony.org/symphony/buy/single/production.aspx?id=13742&src=t&dateid=13742
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