A program of twentieth-century pieces with appropriate French associations was performed by l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France at a Sunday matinee at Carnegie Hall. Both conductor Myung-Whun Chung and his orchestra moved passionately and delicately with the music, providing a performance that seemed driven by true fondness for the pieces.
Two very different works by French composer Maurice Ravel comprised the first half of the concert. Ma Mere l’Oye (Mother Goose) opened the concert and blanketed the hall in a quiet, fairytale-like atmosphere created by mystical, dreamlike woodwind harmonies. Rather than the stories of Mother Goose, Ma Mere l’Oye tells seven fables from the worlds of French writers Charles Perrault and Madame l’Aulnoy. Both authors had a distinctly sophisticated, adult perspective on fairytales. The dances outline the dreams of Sleeping Beauty and glide through moods that range from sparkly, upbeat, and whimsical to haunting and magical. The fluid, impressionistic melody wove through the stories with delightful flourishes of color and dynamics. Ravel originally wrote Ma Mere l’Oye for piano in 1908 and he orchestrated is as a ballet in 1911.
In a completely different style from his usual impressionistic flavor was Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. Many composers around 1929 were commissioned to write a piece for Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein who lost his right arm in World War I. Wittgenstein, (brother of philosopher Ludwig,) was not particularly impressed with Ravel’s modernist approach, but in time acknowledged its greatness. The concerto moves between moments of beauty and discomfort, like a sickness and its cure in one.
Russian pianist Vladimir Feltsman performed the virtuosic concerto with deliberate intensity, capturing the seriousness of the music in every attack of his left hand. The piano part spans the whole keyboard, and has such complex texture that the absence of the right hand is not even noticeable. This furious piece stirred up the matinee crowd with its agitated pace and demanding rhythms, interspersed with periods of slow, tender dissonance. It is noteworthy that Chung used a score only for this piece, presumably for coordination with the soloist, and conducted the other works from memory.
It was Russian composer Igor Stravinsky’s notorious work Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) that took center stage at this performance. Stravinsky’s vision, born out of a ritualistic pagan dream, was commissioned by Serge Diaghilev for the Ballet Russes and choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky. It is widely known for its infamous 1913 Paris premiere, during which the audience started a riot that drowned out most of the music. The piece epitomizes the “succès de scandale” and is a milestone of avant-garde composition. Nijinsky’s original choreography called for punctured, percussive dancing that, combined with wild, tribal costumes, enhanced the jarring feel of the music: a far cry from the Sugar Plum Fairy.
Radio France did more than just perform the massively orchestrated score for the ballet; each player’s body language contributed to a dance of the musicians. Stravinsky’s bold dissonances and electrifying rhythms are made tangible in the physical exertion he requires of his musicians. It was thrilling to trace each rhythmic layer back to the instrument or section that was boldly acting out their part. Sharp, purposeful down-bows of the violin section contrasted with the stately strikes on the bass drum and two timpani sets. The performance was a visual spectacle as well as an aural one, and the tension and excitement of the music was augmented by the strain employed to produce its sound. The score requires strict rhythmic and tonal precision to capture its hypnotic quality. Radio France went a step beyond technical perfection and made the piece a living, breathing force that resonated through the floors and walls and left the audience on their feet cheering.
L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France performs on the radio in France, and in concert all over the world. The orchestra has 141 members, allowing them to perform a broad repertoire from chamber music to full symphonic pieces. Myung-When Chung has been the Music Director since 2000. At Sunday’s Carnegie concert, he addressed the audience with warm thanks at the conclusion of the concert.