REVIEW: Yefim Bronfman shines as soloist, Nézet-Séguin almost makes ‘Ein Heldenleben’ work.
The first thing a veteran concertgoer does when the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra takes the stage, as it did Sunday afternoon in the first of two concerts this week in Segerstrom Concert Hall, is count the women. The number has been a point of controversy for a few decades now, at least when the orchestra plays abroad. I counted 10, and perhaps missed a couple. A bonus: The concertmaster was a woman.
The program gave one pause. It featured a Beethoven concerto with a star soloist that allowed the orchestra limited chance for display and a familiar tone poem by Richard Strauss that allowed plenty of it. That’s it, two works, a sort of meal consisting of two pieces of meat. One expects a little more imagination than this in programing, from any orchestra. (The orchestra will play a different program featuring Schubert and Dvořák on Tuesday.)
But, ah yes, this is the Vienna Philharmonic, an attraction in itself and, as is often said, it doesn’t really matter what it plays. That’s true to a degree, the exact degree depending on the listener.
The VPO, which doesn’t have a music director, performed under Riccardo Muti on the first part of the current U.S. tour. Here in California, the busy Yannick Nézet-Séguin, music director of the Metropolitan Opera, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Orchestre Métropolitain in Montreal, has taken the reins.
Every time this listener encounters Strauss’s “Ein Heldenleben” (A Hero’s Life), he realizes he’s pondering whether it’s actually good or not. This is not the usual thing with pieces in the standard repertoire. But “Heldenleben” is a kind of brilliant mess, and one is never quite convinced the mess coheres into a truly effective whole.
The hero of the title is of course the composer himself, Richard Strauss, and he paints a truly grand musical self-portrait in the first section. His adversaries, the music critics, then enter, sniping, cackling, dumb and dissonant. He does battle with them in a remarkable sequence of orchestral mayhem. There is also a love scene with his wife (portrayed by a flittering solo violin), reminiscences of his past works (Strauss quotes his own music) and a final retreat to the countryside, where he at last achieves peace.
Rather than the work of a self-aggrandizing egomaniac, the best way to take “Helbenleben” is as a bit of a joke. And it is funny, in spots. But it is also long-winded (the love scene is way overstretched dramatically), excessive (one hears about 30 percent of the notes in the battle sequence) and annoyingly repetitive. A good editor would have helped.
But “Heldenleben” does give an orchestra an excellent vehicle to show off, and the VPO was up to it Sunday. In an era when orchestras sound much the same, the Viennese retain a distinctive sound. It starts with the violins and their shiny, gossamer patina. The lower strings are warm and mellow. The woodwinds, somehow, sound more primitive and rustic than ours do, and the brass is glowing, rarely overpowering. One feels in the presence of a virtuoso group, but also a civilized one.
They made “Heldenleben” sizzle and gush, swoon and roar, as needed, all with an unusual degree of lucid texture. The violin solo (Albena Danailova) was brilliantly handled. For his part, Nézet-Séguin led meticulously but never fussily. He kept the thing moving along and had an excellent ear for the overall dramatic flow, such as it is.
On Sunday, he appeared to be a great motivator, music-focused, not a dictator.
To open the concert, Yefim Bronfman was the brilliant soloist in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3. His interpretation was well lived in, at ease even as it accounted for detail, never rushed, never dawdling. The tone was gorgeous, with plenty of warm bass but never muddy. Bronfman played without flash or much personal temperament and the result was not dullness but, rather, to immerse the listener fully and completely and undisturbed in the Beethoven dream.
Nézet-Séguin and the orchestra accompanied with what sounded like real affection for this music, delving into its charms and not always trying to push it into Beethovenian profundity.
As an encore, Bronfman gave a mesmerizing account of “Goldfish” from Debussy’s Images, Book 2.
At the end of the concert, orchestra and conductor generously offered a waltz by Johann Strauss II, “Roses of the South,” played with that irresistible Viennese swing and ineffable delicacy.
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
YannickNézet-Séguin, conductor
Schubert: Symphony No. 4 in C minor, "Tragic"
Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World"
When: 8 p.m. March 11
Where: Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, 600 Town Center Dr, Costa Mesa
Cost: A few tickets remain for $146. A waitlist will likely be available if the event sells out.
Contact: philharmonicsociety.org
Classical music coverage at Culture OC is supported in part by a grant from the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism. Culture OC makes all editorial decisions.
