Tokyo Performances

Shostakovich Cycle - Part 2

What a difference a seat makes, and what a difference the orchestra makes.

The November 18 performances of Symphonies 9 and 14 marked a great change from the previous performances. Inoue was still his jittery, showy self at the podium, but this time the orchestra responded to him. The Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra played beautifully; and the exciting, coherent performance led me to believe that the Russians were having nothing to do with this upstart Japanese conductor trying to tell them how to perform their own cultural legacy. That may be why the previous performances were so lackluster and this one was so vibrant.

And, I finally moved from my main floor seat to one in the middle of the second tier where not only were the sight lines so much better but the sound was phenomenally better.

The Ninth is a great work, and I enjoyed every moment of it - the triumphal climax toward the end was stunning, and in terms of Shostakovich's excesses in the climaxes of other symphonies, this one seemed exactly right.

The 14th is not my favorite work - so dark and mysterious. The singing by Anna Shafajinskaya and Sergei Aleksashkin was excellent, the playing by the strings was wonderful - but I can go a long time before hearing it again.

For the performance of the Fourth symphony on December 1, I again sat in the second tier where the sound was excellent. The loud parts were really LOUD, too. I love this symphony - such a vast step forward from the first three. Stalin apparently didn't like it and cause all sorts of trouble for Shostakovich as a result. I remember its American recording premiere by Bernstein wasn't until the mid-60's although the symphony was completed in 1936. It is a stunning work, which goes to show that a Georgian peasant turned mass-murdering despot shouldn't be doing music criticism. The performance was so engaging that I hardly noticed Inoue mugging and jumping around. The Tokyo Philharmonic played with panache and elan.

posted by Larry Wells @ 10:04 PM