The National Symphony Orchestra is playing an all-Beethoven concert this weekend in their classics series, featuring the young violinist Nikolaj Znaider as soloist. Our little gang went last night. I never get tickets in the same spot in the house, so this time we all sat on the very first row right in front of the first violins. This ended up being quite the interesting place to sit and watch, especially to observe principal guest conductor (who becomes the principal conductor next fall) Iván Fischer on the podium, and we were perfectly positioned to see the violinist's fingering and hear his fingers thumping on his instrument.
The highlight of the evening was the famous Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, the one with the "da da da dahhhhhhh" opening motif. Maestro Fischer took the first movement at a frightening brisk tempo, then in the final movement he was again so fast I remember thinking to myself how I was glad I wasn't having to try to play a piano reduction! In the first movement, the horns were right on the mark and in the whole symphony, the cellos got quite the workout. The audience rewarded the symphony (and the end of the concert) with a standing ovation and three curtain calls.
The first half featured Znaider in the Concerto in D Major for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 61, and he was well received by the audience. He played passionately, sometimes almost violently on his 1704 Stradivarius. I was in just the right position in the house that, when Znaider was turning to watch the concertmistress at key times, he started looking right at me! For those of you who've never performed on a large stage, the lights blazing on the stage generally make all but the first two rows or so of the house a big, black hole. Some performers need the feedback and support of their audience, so they play/sing to some of the people they can actually see, and I guess I got picked for that task last night.
Znaider is a handsome thirty-year-old who is tall with an athletic build and a shock of curly, brown hair. He chose to wear, however, some sort of hideous European-styled black frock coat with four buttoned buttons, no lapels (they were so obviously missing they almost looked cut away), and a turned up collar that looked way too small for him (but that is the current "modern" European fashion), paired with a white, wide-banded collar shirt worn open at the neck. The coat had a bright red lining and he sported a matching red pocket square; his cuffs were fastened with gold square cufflinks bordered with black onyx.
Each half of the concert opened with an overture, first the one to Egmont, Op. 84, and second the one to Coriolan, Op. 62.
Earlier I mentioned watching Mo. FIscher conduct. It was actually both surprising and entertaining. He's a very active and dynamic conductor, but what most caught my attention was the degree of noise he makes. He made all kinds of breathing and whooshing sounds, even growling a couple of times, to help him punctuate his direction. And, he managed to get a pretty good sound out of the orchestra, though there were at least three times when I heard unexpected wrong notes pop up from somewhere in the orchestra.
I was pleased to note that Mo. Fischer was properly attired in white tie and tails, unlike Mo. Leonard Slatkin, who never seems to dress correctly. Being on the first row also gave me a chance to look in detail at the orchestra members, and I noted an interesting thing: the men who wore wing-collar shirts (the proper shirt for white tie) also wore black patent leather shoes (the proper shoes for a tail coat), while men in regular pointed collars wore more casual black leather shoes.
Twas a lovely evening with a packed house and music that was 200 years old, yet refreshing and inspirational to us all.
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