<Automatically translated from French>
Debussy. En blanc et noir, Orhestration de Robin Holloway.
Fantasie pour piano et orchestre en sol majeur
Tchaikovsky. Simphonie No 4 en fa mineur opus 36
Jean-Frédéric Neuburger, piano
l'Orchestre Philarmonique De Radio France
Alexander Vedernikov, conductor
Replaced at short notice, Myung-Whun Chung and Roger Muraro found excellent replacements in Alexander Vedernikov and Jean-Frédéric Neuburger. There was no nervousness to be noticed in this program, which ranged from curiosities to pillars of the repertoire.
Opening the concert, the recent orchestration of the piano pieces En blanc et noir by the composer Robin Holloway was somewhat disappointing. Refusing to mimic the instrumentation of Debussy, Holloway proposes a generous, very thick orchestration, which genuinely harms the clarity of the discourse in the outer movements, but works very well in the central movement, which is epic and narrative to perfection.
The Fantaisie that followed, a rarity in concert, was a nice surprise. In it, Debussy departs from the soloist/orchestra dialectic and in many places integrates the piano into the orchestral texture, in the manner of D'Indy's Symphonie cévenole. In this type of configuration, the challenge for the soloist is to assert themselves, not to let themselves be submerged, which Jean-Frédéric Neuburger struggled somewhat to accomplish at the beginning of his interpretation. He only really came into his own during the central movement, where, it is true, wider solo passages were provided for him.
For the rest, the Fantaisie is a pleasant piece, without being sensational. The musical discourse lacks relief, as in the last movement whose brilliant coda seems telescoped and, to be frank, conventional, as if Debussy were catering to the needs of the applause.
For an encore, Jean-Frédéric Neuburger offered the audience a blues-like piece, which was very warmly received.
After the intermission, it was time for a pillar of the symphonic repertoire, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4, with its well-known opening fanfare depicting fatum. Vedernikov's direction immediately steered the discourse toward a narrative, which proved ideal in the first movement, rich in contrasts of tempi and atmospheres. The following, more subdued, Canzona highlighted the quality of the orchestra's woodwinds, particularly the oboe and clarinet. The Scherzo that followed was somewhat disappointing: taken at a slower tempo than usual, the discourse gave the strange impression of dragging. The intention was undoubtedly to create a shock with the final movement, almost directly linked, for which Vedernikov must have meditated at length on the indication "con fuoco" (with fire)! This was successful, although at this pace, the variations sometimes lacked subtlety. The evening ended, as it should, with a long ovation for the orchestra and its conductor.
Source.
Debussy. En blanc et noir, Orhestration de Robin Holloway.
Fantasie pour piano et orchestre en sol majeur
Tchaikovsky. Simphonie No 4 en fa mineur opus 36
Jean-Frédéric Neuburger, piano
l'Orchestre Philarmonique De Radio France
Alexander Vedernikov, conductor
Replaced at short notice, Myung-Whun Chung and Roger Muraro found excellent replacements in Alexander Vedernikov and Jean-Frédéric Neuburger. There was no nervousness to be noticed in this program, which ranged from curiosities to pillars of the repertoire.
Opening the concert, the recent orchestration of the piano pieces En blanc et noir by the composer Robin Holloway was somewhat disappointing. Refusing to mimic the instrumentation of Debussy, Holloway proposes a generous, very thick orchestration, which genuinely harms the clarity of the discourse in the outer movements, but works very well in the central movement, which is epic and narrative to perfection.
The Fantaisie that followed, a rarity in concert, was a nice surprise. In it, Debussy departs from the soloist/orchestra dialectic and in many places integrates the piano into the orchestral texture, in the manner of D'Indy's Symphonie cévenole. In this type of configuration, the challenge for the soloist is to assert themselves, not to let themselves be submerged, which Jean-Frédéric Neuburger struggled somewhat to accomplish at the beginning of his interpretation. He only really came into his own during the central movement, where, it is true, wider solo passages were provided for him.
For the rest, the Fantaisie is a pleasant piece, without being sensational. The musical discourse lacks relief, as in the last movement whose brilliant coda seems telescoped and, to be frank, conventional, as if Debussy were catering to the needs of the applause.
For an encore, Jean-Frédéric Neuburger offered the audience a blues-like piece, which was very warmly received.
After the intermission, it was time for a pillar of the symphonic repertoire, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4, with its well-known opening fanfare depicting fatum. Vedernikov's direction immediately steered the discourse toward a narrative, which proved ideal in the first movement, rich in contrasts of tempi and atmospheres. The following, more subdued, Canzona highlighted the quality of the orchestra's woodwinds, particularly the oboe and clarinet. The Scherzo that followed was somewhat disappointing: taken at a slower tempo than usual, the discourse gave the strange impression of dragging. The intention was undoubtedly to create a shock with the final movement, almost directly linked, for which Vedernikov must have meditated at length on the indication "con fuoco" (with fire)! This was successful, although at this pace, the variations sometimes lacked subtlety. The evening ended, as it should, with a long ovation for the orchestra and its conductor.
Source.
Vedernikov and Neuburger, stand-ins of choice at Pleyel
Etiennes Comes, ResMusica, October 11, 2012
