Tokyo Performances

Tokyo Symphony: Brahms and Vaughn Williams

The Tokyo Symphony performed at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space on March 19 under the baton of Naoto Otomo.

The program began with a warhorse, the Brahms 2nd Piano Concerto featuring recording artist Michie Koyama as soloist. Unlike many Japanese female pianists, she did not appear in a fluffy ball gown, and she played with both vigor and sensitivity. I’ve always felt that the fourth movement of this concerto is anti-climactic. And this performance did nothing to change my conviction that the first three movements are the heart and soul of this concerto. It was an excellent performance by both orchestra and soloist.

But my reason for attending was to hear Vaughn Williams’ “Sinfonia Antartica”. Very little of Vaughn Williams is performed in Tokyo, for some reason, and his music is one of my guilty pleasures. That being said, this seventh symphony is probably my least favorite. Having never heard a live performance, I thought perhaps that its scope is lost in recordings. I was wrong. It is literally movie music patched into a symphonic package – the original music having been written for the film “Scott of the Antarctic”. Several times there were passages accompanied by figures in the percussion section repeated ad nauseam.

But, how can one resist any piece featuring the wind machine? It appeared in two movements, and was even doubled in the final movement. Along with the doleful keening of the women’s choir, it was quite atmospheric but ultimately insubstantial.

My favorite moment is in the middle movement when the organ chimes in. The auditorium is equipped with two back-to-back organs on turntables – one baroque and one modern. At this performance the modern organ was naturally used, and it does produce a thunderous sound. Check out photos at http://www.geigeki.jp/english/index.html

posted by Larry Wells @ 5:09 PM