Israeli conductor/pianist Asher Fisch,
long time music director at the Vienna Volksoper and Israeli Opera
and soon Music Director of the West Australia SO, returned to Kansas
City this weekend, May 17-19 with one of the more interesting and
unusual concerts of the season. The concert opened with Mahler's
gently lyrical “Blumine” once part of the first version of the
Symphony # 1. The first half concluded with the Piano Concerto # 17
K453 by Mozart with Fisch as soloist and conductor. The program
concluded with the Brahms Piano Quartet in G op 25 as orchestrated by
Arnold Schoenberg.
In “On the Horizon” I discussed the
background of the Mahler and Schoenberg, noting that performances of
these pieces are not exactly everyday occurrences.
Lucky for those in attendance, Fisch
led a gentle, flowing, detailed and overall very successful
performance. The mysterious opening for tremolo strings was pure
atmosphere, barely at audible level, a texture and feeling more than
just mere notes. This was a restrained “Blumine” as it should be,
a pastoral interlude singing and a touch melancholy. Special kudos
for principal trumpet Gary Schutza's lyrical and tonally beautiful
which is the backbone of this fine little tone poem. The final
moments of the work, with hushed strings in the highest register and
the final quiet flourish of the harp was magical.
Fisch and the orchestra continued the
concert with the alternately mercurial and dramatic Mozart Concerto #
17, written and premiered in 1784. The opening movement is typical of
Mozart's gracefully lyric style. Fisch is an accomplished pianist
with a singing tone and fine technique. The orchestra winds were in
their usual fine form, deftly interjecting and commenting on the
piano, especially in the charming and witty opening measures of the
movement.
The middle andante, in contrast, is one
of Mozart's more dramatic concerto movements. Fisch took the movement
at a particularly brisk tempo which could of worked, but with his
concentration divided between playing and conducting, it led to a
some shaky moments and tentative entrances. Fisch was sensitive to
the drama of the movement, accenting and highlighting the more
dramatic passages. The Variations-Finale unfolded with the same charm
and brisk tempo of the preceding movements.
What was missing was the feeling of
unbridled melody and graceful expression that is a hallmark of a
successful Mozart performance. Fisch and the orchestra were certainly
not flat or dull, but the extra effort in keeping the orchestra and
piano together, led to an overall restrained and mechanical feeling.
Fisch and the orchestra relished the
Brahms Quartet, revealing the genius of Schoenberg's orchestration
and Brahms' sense of form and order. A brisk performance, which is
always a good thing in Brahms, Fisch and his forces still took time
to luxuriate in the melodies that flowed from Brahms' fertile
imagination. Fisch and the orchestra brought out all the Brahmsian
character, drama and charm inherent in the Quartet. Fisch's attention
to detail aided by Schoenberg's spot lit orchestrations illuminated
how Brahms deftly crafted the first movement's melodic content from
the opening declamatory motif. The Intermezzo and Trio, functioning
as a scherzo, was well controlled yet infused with the right degree
of moto perpetuo force. The grand Andante con Moto was swiftly
flowing as an movement so marked should be. The concluding Rondo,
marked “alla zingarese” was a total tour-de-force, Fisch and the
orchestra pulling out all stops for a bravura finale. Even
Schoenberg's xylophone and percussion touches seemed totally
appropriate and part of the thick, rich texture instead of being a
strange afterthought.
A thoughtful program of some off the
beaten path works, rare and quite well done.
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