Brahms, The Ny Philharmonic & Phila. Orchestra

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MUSIC REVIEW | PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA; NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC

Top Conductors, Top Orchestras, Brahms in Common

By ALLAN KOZINN

Published: January 30, 2004

These are the sorts of weblike, almost incestuous relationships you find in the symphonic world: on Tuesday evening Sir Simon Rattle, the music director of the Berlin Philharmonic, led the Philadelphia Orchestra in a concert at Carnegie Hall. Sir Simon and the Philadelphians have had a long and productive relationship, and when the Philadelphians were seeking a new music director in the late 1990's, they were said to have been actively courting him but were unable to persuade him to move his conducting base from Europe.

The next evening Riccardo Muti, the music director of La Scala in Milan and a former director of the Philadelphians, led the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall. About the same time the Philadelphians were wooing Sir Simon, the Philharmonic was close to a deal with Mr. Muti, but that courtship, too, foundered over Mr. Muti's desire to spend most of his time in Europe. The Philharmonic then set its sights on Christoph Eschenbach, who decided at the last minute to accept an offer from Philadelphia instead. But that's another story.

Everyone, clearly, is still friendly, and everyone is apparently keen on the Brahms Second Symphony. Both Sir Simon and Mr. Muti devoted the second halves of their programs to the work, and their readings were strikingly different. But in each case, the Brahms was also not the principal draw. For the Philadelphia Orchestra concert, that was the New York premiere of Hans Werner Henze's Symphony No. 10, a substantial work completed last year. At the Philharmonic — a concert broadcast on "Live From Lincoln Center" — the main attraction was a handful of Mozart concert arias, with the German bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff as the soloist.

Mr. Quasthoff and Mr. Muti have much in common interpretively. Both are supremely attentive to detail and nuance, and although both seem most at home in music that demands lyricism and flexibility, they are unafraid to go for a brasher edge when that would best serve a passage. In "Aspri rimorsi atroci" (K. 432), Mr. Quasthoff began painting his characterization with the first line of the recitative; when he reached the aria proper, his reading carried a full emotional charge.

"Per questa bella mano" (K. 612) has a double bass obbligato, which was played by Eugene Levinson, the orchestra's principal bassist. Mr. Levinson's sound was fairly thin, but he moved easily through the virtuosic passagework, and there were some lovely moments of dialogue between him and Mr. Quasthoff. But by far the most affecting of Mr. Quasthoff's performances was "Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo" (K. 584), an aria originally meant for "Così Fan Tutte," and in Mozart's bright-hued, comic style.

The Henze 10th Symphony, a four-movement, 40-minute work, is weightier listening than the Mozart arias, but it was as captivating in its own way. That way is largely ominous and melancholy, but there is more to the score than that. In this deftly orchestrated symphony, Mr. Henze varies the coloration, emphases and balances of dissonance and overt lyricism in each movement and keeps the discourse and development powerful and clear. Sir Simon's contribution was to keep the textures remarkably transparent, even in the densest passages.

Still, there were fleeting moments of rough ensemble in the Henze, and others in Sir Simon's account of the Brahms. This was a reading that underscored Brahms's debt to Beethoven, a quality that was presented more subtly by Mr. Muti. Except in the finale, where Sir Simon's interpretation belatedly came to life, the Philadelphia reading was unaccountably dull. It just seemed to chug along, and even Sir Simon's decision to skip the first movement repeat didn't save it. Mr. Muti took that repeat, but his performance had a fluidity and shapeliness that made the symphony seem like a living thing.

The Philharmonic program is repeated tonight and tomorrow.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/30/arts/music/30KOZI.html