Manze took to the podium at the start of the concert and picked up a microphone to say a few words to the audience. The suite of four Purcell works were not technically a suite, but simply four works by Purcell performed together. Manze spoke about them, and explained how some of them are orchestrated by Benjamin Britten, and some of them by Manze himself. He joked that the audience probably thinks of England as the land of no music, and said he hopes that this evening will convince them otherwise.
The four pieces by Purcell were beautiful. The first one was incredibly short, just a funeral march that couldn't have been longer than two minutes. The others were classic, beautiful baroque music, particularly the last one, which Manze said was Britten's favorite piece of Purcell.
After the Purcell was over the piano was wheeled out for the piano concerto. I had looked up Simone Dinnerstein a few days beforehand and wasn't quite sure what to make of her. She engaged in a lot of new age playing tendencies, but she was also very expressive. At Thursday's concert it seemed to be much the same. Her facial expressions were completely over the top from the beginning to the end of the concerto, but if I closed my eyes or looked away, the playing was quite fine. Her tone in particular was the warmest, richest, most beautiful tone I have yet heard from a pianist in Benaroya Hall. That was the key element of her playing that made it captivating.
I would say that overall I still prefer Vladimir Feltsman's performance of this work from back in May. It was overall more traditionally played. But compared to some of the flat performances of Mozart piano concerts I've heard this past year (No. 9 with Garrick Ohlsson, No. 21 with Cédric Tiberghien), Dinnerstein's was certainly up there among the best. One thing I preferred about Dinnerstein's performance was the slow tempo of the second movement. She played the opening very slowly and beautifully, and Manze brought the orchestra in in such a way that it seemed it had always been going and we were only now beginning to hear it. He also remained in the slow tempo she had set, which created an incredible effect for the unspeakably divine orchestral passages.
There was one part in the third movement I think, where I was listening with my eyes closed and suddenly I was jarred by what sounded like the piano and orchestra getting very out of sync with each other. My eyes snapped open, but they then seemed to be back together. Perhaps what I heard wasn't an actual fumbling of the performers but something that my mind did as it drifted towards a half-asleep state. Fascinating questions.
The audience didn't seem very enthralled with Dinnerstein. After her first bow and exit from the stage the applause barely sustained enough for her to return for a second bow. Half the audience was still standing up of course though, this is Seattle. She stayed on stage for her second bow for a little while, probably knowing this was it, and the applause quickly faded just as she took her last step from the stage.
After intermission Manze returned to the stage in front of a much larger orchestra, and again took the microphone to address the audience before performing the Vaughan Williams. He told a story about how while conducting this symphony recently he had met a very old woman who had been there in 1943 at the first performance of it in England. The audience oohed and aahed as he told the story. Apparently she was a sound engineer, because all the men were at war. She said that everyone was weeping during the performance because it was this beautiful, hopeful piece of music that Vaughan Williams had created in the midst of total darkness; the previous three years had been terrible for England obviously. Finally he said "enough from me!" with a gesture of his hand, and turned around to begin the symphony.
It was a very fine performance. Andrew Manze was clearly a very good musician, and he led the orchestra through a solid and convincing performance of the symphony. The brass were a little bit weak in places, something they actually suffered from throughout the first half as well I believe, but otherwise the orchestral playing was technically very good. My favorite movement is the third, the one which has the most romantic, hollywood-esque soaring string passages, and it was played very beautifully.
It's unfair to compare level of polish between tonight and most of the other concerts I go to because normally I go on Saturdays. Opening night is always not as quite put together as subsequent performances, and I think this was noticeable on Thursday. In any case it was a very enjoyable concert!
Next up is The Daughter of the Regiment at the Seattle Opera!
____________________________
http://www.seattlesymphony.org/symphony/buy/single/production.aspx?id=13609&src=t&dateid=13609
There was one part in the third movement I think, where I was listening with my eyes closed and suddenly I was jarred by what sounded like the piano and orchestra getting very out of sync with each other. My eyes snapped open, but they then seemed to be back together. Perhaps what I heard wasn't an actual fumbling of the performers but something that my mind did as it drifted towards a half-asleep state. Fascinating questions.
The audience didn't seem very enthralled with Dinnerstein. After her first bow and exit from the stage the applause barely sustained enough for her to return for a second bow. Half the audience was still standing up of course though, this is Seattle. She stayed on stage for her second bow for a little while, probably knowing this was it, and the applause quickly faded just as she took her last step from the stage.
After intermission Manze returned to the stage in front of a much larger orchestra, and again took the microphone to address the audience before performing the Vaughan Williams. He told a story about how while conducting this symphony recently he had met a very old woman who had been there in 1943 at the first performance of it in England. The audience oohed and aahed as he told the story. Apparently she was a sound engineer, because all the men were at war. She said that everyone was weeping during the performance because it was this beautiful, hopeful piece of music that Vaughan Williams had created in the midst of total darkness; the previous three years had been terrible for England obviously. Finally he said "enough from me!" with a gesture of his hand, and turned around to begin the symphony.
It was a very fine performance. Andrew Manze was clearly a very good musician, and he led the orchestra through a solid and convincing performance of the symphony. The brass were a little bit weak in places, something they actually suffered from throughout the first half as well I believe, but otherwise the orchestral playing was technically very good. My favorite movement is the third, the one which has the most romantic, hollywood-esque soaring string passages, and it was played very beautifully.
It's unfair to compare level of polish between tonight and most of the other concerts I go to because normally I go on Saturdays. Opening night is always not as quite put together as subsequent performances, and I think this was noticeable on Thursday. In any case it was a very enjoyable concert!
Next up is The Daughter of the Regiment at the Seattle Opera!
____________________________
http://www.seattlesymphony.org/symphony/buy/single/production.aspx?id=13609&src=t&dateid=13609
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