Mälkki makes both the new and familiar fresh and memorable with the Philharmonic
Though little more than a month has passed, the surprise of the New York Philharmonic season so far is how interesting it has been. Waiting two years for incoming music director Gustavo Dudamel means one guest conductor and program after the next. Instead of being scattered and unfocused, though, there’s been a variety of mostly fine selections that have shown off the flexibility and skill of the orchestra.
The latest program opened Thursday night with the great Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki and guest soloist violinist Leila Josefowicz. The program was another non-thematic grab bag of pieces: a new concerto, Strauss’ Metamorphosen for 23 strings, and Ravel’s La Valse. Each one was a fine—if not famous—work, with invigorating and often gripping performances.
First was Josefowicz and orchestra playing the New York premiere of Italian composer Luca Francesconi’s 2013 concerto, Duende: The Dark Notes. A coincidental but sympathetic companion to Osvaldo Golijov’s opera Ainadamar, on stage around the corner at the Metropolitan Opera, the piece comes out of the Spanish musical concept of “duende” (meaning the soul and/or a heightened concept of being, often in connection with the earth). It’s heard in the black notes on the piano, seen in the movements of flamenco dancers, and felt Thursday night through the concerto.
At the core of the concerto—in five continuous sections—one could hear bits and pieces of traditional Spanish music, fragments of rhythms. Francesconi disassembles and then reconstructs them in an ingenious process that takes musical ideas and pushes them to extremes, both outward and inward, while keeping them recognizable, something like musical Cubism that takes into account the newer understanding of fractals.
This has an extended-techniques sound from the first notes. and the strings rapidly pass around notes in the very top registers of the instruments. The piano comes, in marking time with dense clusters—phrases and chords in extremis. This sound world was easy to adapt to, especially with the superb intonation and sharp rhythms from soloist and orchestra.
Josefowicz worked closely with the composer in making this piece and the deep energy in the music came through her playing as well as that of the orchestra. The tempo gradually slows but the music builds in expression and intensity, moving through quasi-mournful sections, including an earthy tribute to Nicolae Neacşu of the great Roma band Taraf de Haïdouks. The cadenza comes at nearly the end, the music organized to feel like it comes up from the earth, and Josefowicz played like it was singing, coming through her feet and out of her throat, the essence of duende. The was an ideal example of contemporary composition, using all the advanced tools in the kit while clearly saying something direct and human.
For a piece new to the ears—there’s no recording as yet—Mälkki impressed as having a confident understanding of the work, and the orchestra played with sharp, energetic focus and great assurance with every detail.
The Philharmonic played Metamorphosen and La Valse after intermission. In music familiar to the listener, one could really hear how fine the playing was, and why Mälkki is such a welcome presence at the podium. There’s no one specific secret or key to what she does; her poise and technique are clearly superb, and through them she channels a view of every work she touches that makes it sound both exactly how it’s supposed to and also as if one was hearing it properly for the first time. And this without any distracting interventions or fussiness.
That meant a Metamorphosen that had simply a beautiful sound, with both warmth and lightness to the strings. Grainy, woody, yet shining, the timbres were gorgeous and slight shifts in their quality did as much as movements from minor to major to deliver expression. The pace was excellent, the energy made it feel quick without any particular speed—it was the sense of forward movement and a light-footedness through which Mälkki seemed to be letting the emotional depth accumulate through time, rather than emphasizing anything. Perhaps simply trusting in the music and her value in helping it speak clearly, is what makes her so good. This was lovely and moving and sincere.
La Valse was fantastic. One heard this earlier this year from the Vienna Philharmonic, a reliably terrific performance, but one has never heard it like this. In the best sense, the orchestra sounded a little drunk, instrumental sections together within themselves while stretching away from each other, all organized around a granitic pulse that brought everything together on key downbeats. This was a kind of duende and perfect for digging into the idea of a waltz, where the time should feel like both taffy and iron, the dancers spinning away from each other to the edge of the breaking point, momentum bringing them close again.
This was La Valse as what seemed to be its greatest possibility, with dazzling orchestral playing, tremendous colors, and an almost overwhelming physicality.
This program will be repeated 2 p.m. Friday and 7:30 p.m. Saturday. nyphil.org
One Response to “Mälkki makes both the new and familiar fresh and memorable with the Philharmonic”
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Posted Nov 04, 2024 at 4:33 pm by Mark Greenberg
Nice review and wonderful photographs. I didn’t quite respond as fully to Duende as this reviewer but agree completely about the second half of the program. I’ve never heard La Valse played better than at this performance and I’ve heard it played plenty of times. The dynamics that Malkki drew from the NY Phil were spectacular and breathtaking.