Well, what can you expect in a country that's not quite Belgium, France or Germany?�
The Philadelphia Orchestra's two-night run at the Luxembourg Philharmonie has been a definite success with audiences, but what makes them stand? Not the extravagant ending to the Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 3 on Thursday, but the quieter encore, his Vocalise. On Friday, a terrific performance of the Brahms Symphony No. 3 had a lukewarm reception. The Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 with Emanuel Ax in top form made listeners jump. This article is from wwwphilly.comAnd, of course, the suite from Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier.�
The Brahms symphony is a particular puzzlement.�It's true that there was a bit of ensemble messiness, but that just added an impetuous quality to what was already a confidently pace, high-energy performance. �In the Rachmaninoff symphony, the string players dug a bit harder into their instruments than in Philadelphia, underscoring the music's inner anxiety and making it a more congruent program companion to bare nerve endings of the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1. It's not like this audience doesn't know great orchestras. All the big European ensembles come here.�
Well, Luxembourg has been a pleasant place to get over jetlag and to work in some intensive rehearsals. Once the orchestra hits the road to Cologne on Saturday, there won't be a great deal of time to work on the repertoire, but both Thursday and Friday mornings had some intensive sessions, even with piano soloist Jan Lisiecki, who won't play the Grieg Piano Concerto until Sunday night in Dresden.�
Best rehearsal moment so far: Pianist Ax was discussing some fine points about the Beethoven concerto, and making details heard in this hall, which is designed so that the ocean-blue seats resemble ripples and the side walls have towers that might be modeled after a suburban high rise or the boxes in an Ellizabethan theater. Ax was concerned about certain things being heard. Yannick Nezet-Seguin assured him that certain problems would solve themselves once the audience was in.
"You mean there are going to be people here?" asked Ax with mock incredulity.
The Philadelphia Orchestra's two-night run at the Luxembourg Philharmonie has been a definite success with audiences, but what makes them stand? Not the extravagant ending to the Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 3 on Thursday, but the quieter encore, his Vocalise. On Friday, a terrific performance of the Brahms Symphony No. 3 had a lukewarm reception. The Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 with Emanuel Ax in top form made listeners jump. This article is from wwwphilly.comAnd, of course, the suite from Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier.�
The Brahms symphony is a particular puzzlement.�It's true that there was a bit of ensemble messiness, but that just added an impetuous quality to what was already a confidently pace, high-energy performance. �In the Rachmaninoff symphony, the string players dug a bit harder into their instruments than in Philadelphia, underscoring the music's inner anxiety and making it a more congruent program companion to bare nerve endings of the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1. It's not like this audience doesn't know great orchestras. All the big European ensembles come here.�
Well, Luxembourg has been a pleasant place to get over jetlag and to work in some intensive rehearsals. Once the orchestra hits the road to Cologne on Saturday, there won't be a great deal of time to work on the repertoire, but both Thursday and Friday mornings had some intensive sessions, even with piano soloist Jan Lisiecki, who won't play the Grieg Piano Concerto until Sunday night in Dresden.�
Best rehearsal moment so far: Pianist Ax was discussing some fine points about the Beethoven concerto, and making details heard in this hall, which is designed so that the ocean-blue seats resemble ripples and the side walls have towers that might be modeled after a suburban high rise or the boxes in an Ellizabethan theater. Ax was concerned about certain things being heard. Yannick Nezet-Seguin assured him that certain problems would solve themselves once the audience was in.
"You mean there are going to be people here?" asked Ax with mock incredulity.
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