NYO-USA brings it all home with assist from Thibaudet
On Monday night at Carnegie Hall, the World Orchestra Week festival got around to where it all began, with the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (and a handful of musicians from the Arab-Israeli Polyphony Ensemble) hitting the stage. One has seen many different versions of this orchestra through the years yet it is consistently technically disciplined and also exuberant. This year’s version added a level of poise, thoughtfulness, and expressive depth that made this a special experience.
Marin Alsop conducted, and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet has returned as soloist, playing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Thibaudet has already shown himself a superb partner for young musicians, his élan complementing their energy. Alsop’s qualities of precision and drive were also ideal, as was her own experience with the rest of this excellent program, which opened with Samuel Barber’s Symphony No. 1 and finished in the second half with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherezade—not to mention two encores that were custom-made, or close to it.
It was extremely welcome just to see Barber’s symphony on the program. New York City orchestras, and the visiting American groups that come through here, seem acutely allergic to the great American symphonies of the middle 20th century, and Barber’s is one of the best of these and one of the finest American works. In one movement with four clearly discernible sections, the piece is tightly organized while full of strong musical ideas, inventiveness, drive, and enormous expression.
From the weighty, churning lines that open the music, this was a stirring performance. There was an urgency in the playing that was perfect, passion triumphing over politeness. Even with a tentative transition from the first section to the second, there were no concessions to technique. Rather, the strings produced a rich timbre that one had rarely heard before from this orchestra.
The tricky rhythms and articulations of the telegraph-like scherzo were on the mark, and the pace and volume of sound in the Andante were glorious. The symphony has an inexorable forward motion that gathers purpose through each passing measure, and Alsop had a superb hand on the form, every climax judged so that there was still more to add. That came in the brilliant concluding passacaglia with the orchestra’s playing powerful and moving.
There was clear delight in their playing of the Gershwin, and the same from Thibaudet. Even in the most sensitive moments of any piece, he relishes the simple pleasure of playing music. That makes him great in Rhapsody in Blue, where he has the chops and also the knowledge and range to not just play the notes, but play around with them.
The solo part is close to being nothing but a cadenza, and Thibaudet added little bits of ornamentation and internal keyboard comments all the way through, it was Gershwin enhanced with Thibaudet’s thinking. Suave and sweet, his overall view made it sound like Liszt playing barrelhouse piano, and that’s probably as appropriate as it gets.
He rejoined the orchestra for the encore, the swinging Victory Stride from the great James P. Johnson. This was fantastic fun, with orchestra sections and individual soloists standing up for their statements—the basses spinning their instruments like they were in the Cotton Club—with great joy and swagger from all.
Scheherezade was even better than anything in the first half. This was where the orchestra showed not just its chops but their poise. Some woodwind chords were not perfectly tuned, a minor note in what was a finely paced and shaped performance.
The sixteen-year-old concertmaster Stephan Zhang was exceptional in the violin solos, playing with a gorgeous tone, perfect intonation and expressive command. He had his own ideas about phrasing and how to make it sound beautiful—light on rubato and direct, this had a maturity to match the impressive sound. The accompaniment from harpist Olivia Sunim Lee was just as fine: fluid, sensitive, even sensual.
As with the Barber, the playing had an ideal shape. Alsop’s tempos and dynamics levels were just right, and the sense of drama within each movement and through the overall work felt natural. There was great energy without exertion, the definition of poise.
Music making this good demanded another encore. That was Swing, which Alsop described as custom written for the orchestra by composer Laura Karpman. The piece had nifty waves of criss-crossing, syncopated lines, and was one last fist-punch of triumph into the air for NYOUSA.
The European Union Youth Orchestra, conductor Iván Fischer, and pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason play Anna Clyne, Dohnányi, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, 7 p.m. Tuesday. carnegiehall.org
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