More of the same from the NSO
The National Symphony Orchestra ends the opening installment of its Beethoven-Walker festival this weekend (to be continued in the fall) with a relatively brief program of Beethoven’s Consecration of the House overture and Eroica symphony, bookending D.C. native George Walker’s Sinfonia No. 4. The concerts are all being recorded for commercial release later.
I wrote about a similar program in the series two weeks ago, and my reactions to this one are about the same. It is an artistic tragedy that NSO music director Gianandrea Noseda is so unaware of what things sound like out in the audience, as opposed to what he’s hearing up on the podium, closely surrounded by the strings. The difference between what one sees in the score and what one heard Thursday night in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall was ghastly. The sound engineers are going to have to work overtime to somehow artificially fix the balances for the recording, as Noseda is allowing the brass and timpani to simply obliterate everything else when they play.
Moreover, he’s made the head-scratching decision to reduce the strings for the Beethoven symphonies, a couple of stands in each section. What’s left is neither fish nor fowl; it’s not small enough to be considered a “chamber orchestra” (and there are some very nice recordings by such groups) so what possible purpose is there in cutting back on the already-overmatched strings?
And it’s not just they who suffer; the running bassoon passages near the beginning of the overture -- one of the most gloriously, crazily wonderful moments in their entire literature – went for naught thanks to the trumpets and timpani.
The tragedy in all of this is that the NSO has some world-class players in its ranks, and from time to time you can appreciate them. The Scherzo of the Eroica, even with a wrong clarinet entrance towards the end, displayed orchestral virtuosity that reminded me of the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell. Elsewhere, solos from the principal flute, bassoon, and oboe were really lovely, in the rare moments that the texture was thin enough to let them through. There’s gold in them hills.
Turning to interpretive matters, I found Noseda’s thrusting tempos mostly enjoyable; he didn’t dawdle in the Poco andante coda of the Eroica’s finale, where tension so often sags, and the Marcia Funebre was stately without being pompous. In the first movement, though, I worried that he’d need a chiropractor afterwards; why push the tempo so much and beat time in quarter-notes?? Other conductors have taken far-slower tempi but still let the music breathe by giving a once-per-bar pulse. This micro-managing actually got in the way of shaping long lines, as many of the big climaxes built up too quickly, feeling drained at the end. Noseda is a febrile, passionate conductor, who’s given us some memorable concerts. On the evidence of these performances, though, I don’t feel like Beethoven is his métier; of course others may respond differently.
As for the Walker Sinfonia, I don’t want to add gratuitously to what I’ve written previously. But this set of works of his are simply hard to listen to; harshly dissonant, lacking in musical character, and structurally aimless. Had we been told that we were hearing a score to a horror movie, we might assume that the music followed the (unseen) action, and thus we would listen with some indulgence. But this is “pure” music, purportedly driven solely by internal impulses and motifs (a program note says that Walker wove two spirituals into the piece; all I can say is that it was imperceptible to these ears). Will anyone, anywhere, ever listen to the Sinfonia No. 4 and say “that was really enjoyable, I’d like to hear that again”?
I wish everyone well. The NSO is a fine orchestra with a vibrant conductor and a loyal audience. These concerts were not anyone’s finest hour, but this too shall pass. Many of the upcoming programs look quite attractive.
