Four Easy Pieces

The NSO performs 2 Mendelssohn pieces (1 by Fanny, 1 by Felix), plus Schumann's rarely performed concerto for four horns & Schubert's 3rd Symphony at the Kennedy Center.

After some strenuous repertoire this spring, the National Symphony Orchestra musicians got a bit of a break this week. A reduced ensemble played four early-romantic works that allowed them some time off from the practice-room. A bit more variety wouldn’t have hurt (Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, and an overture by Mendelssohn’s younger sister, Fanny), but the musicians played stylishly and with a sense of fun, to the extent that music director Gianandrea Noseda let them.

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel underwent the same thorough musical training as her brother, and composed nearly 400 pieces, but given the tenor of the times, received little recognition. On the basis of the Overture in C, I would certainly agree that recognition is overdue. Not to ghettoize and compare her gender, but I know a number of works by Clara Schumann, and I would place Hensel above her in terms of creativity. While derivative of both her brother’s and Schubert’s early works, the overture showed many original touches in orchestration and melodic flow. This selection may have been a nod to the current zeitgeist, but I would deem it an artistic success.  We should hear more of this composer.  

The real novelty of the evening, though, was the Schumann Konzertstück Op. 86, a unique concerto for quadruple French horns. This piece is almost never heard, due to its ferocious difficulty (the 1st horn part calls for a stratospheric tessitura plus the agility of a clarinet), but the NSO quartet met it head-on. Abel Pereira, James Nickel, Markus Osterlund, and Robert Readon acquitted themselves with distinction, with only the tiniest slips in the most acrobatic licks. The chorale playing in the Romanze movement was especially warm and buttery. Flaws were more audible in the orchestra as the musicians navigated a completely unfamiliar piece, some entrances poorly together.  

Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture, one of the all-time masterpieces in the form, was given a bracing reading (does Noseda do any other kind?), but marred as always by bad balances. Mendelssohn’s magical depiction of Fingal’s Cave on the Scottish coast depends on shimmering figurations in the strings. With sustained notes from the winds and brass obliterating virtually all of it, the piece sounded ordinary, even though the playing was always on a high level.  

The same would be said for Schubert’s Symphony No. 3, a work of fresh, youthful charm. While the NSO winds are all fine musicians, and the many little solos were unfailingly lovely, they collectively create a wall of sound that overwhelms.  Noseda cut the already-reduced string section still further for this final number, so the balances became still further lopsided. And his way with this frangible music is too tense for my taste. For Schubert, I listen to Beecham, Walter, or Blomstedt, who all impart a feeling of lilt plus relaxation. With Noseda, one senses a clenched fist, or jaw, all the time. The music can take it, of course, but there are dimensions missing.

The Friday performance was this morning, so the remaining concert is tomorrow night. 

Photo by Scott Suchman.