THE HANGOVER REPORT – This week, Herbert Blomstedt elicits ample color from the NY PHIL via Berlioz’s “Symphonie fantastique” and Lidholm’s “Poesis”

Herbert Blomstedt conducts the New York Philharmonic at David Geffen Hall (photo courtesy of New York Philharmonic).

This week, maestro Herbert Blomstedt – who this year turned a staggering 95 years old and is still in fine spirits – has returned to the newly revitalized David Geffen Hall to lead the New York Philharmonic in playing a pair of fascinatingly juxtaposed works, Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique and Ingvar Lidholm’s Poesis. The New York forces have typically responded warmly to Blomstedt’s conducting, and happily, this afternoon’s performance was no exception.

The program began with Blomstedt giving an amiable pre-concert speech to give an introduction to Poesis, which Lidholm composed 60 years ago. In fact, Blomstedt conducted the work’s 1963 world premiere in Stockholm and has remained a champion of the piece over the years. Despite its age, Lidholm’s score remains starkly modern, and its unique and decidedly unorthodox use of instruments often times result in jarring bursts of power and interesting textures. Even if much of the score may be too cacophonic for more traditional classic music vans, the glittering orchestral colors that emerge are likely to grab listeners with their visceral force and sonic newness.

Then came Symphonie fantastique, Berlioz’s evocative 1830 score which calls to mind other “narrative” symphonies (Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin quickly comes to mind). Blomstedt drew a well-shaped and beautifully balanced performance. Even if the strings during the “scenes” at the ball and fields tended towards blandness, I was aroused by the driving, exciting drama of the latter half of the piece (e.g., a march to the scaffold, a demonic witches’ sabbath). In its entirety, the program showed off the orchestra’s capacity to deliver vibrant aural color, which were especially evident in the vastly improved acoustics of the Philharmonic’s successfully renovated hall.

RECOMMENDED

NY PHILHARMONIC
Classical Music
David Geffen Hall
1 hour, 45 minutes (with one intermission)
Through February 4

Categories: Music, Other Music

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