Yesterday evening Marek Janowski led the Philharmonic in a program of Mozart, Haydn, and Mendelssohn. Beginning with Mozart’s Serenata notturna, this was a fine opportunity to hear some of the orchestra’s front-desk string players, including Frank Huang, Qianqian Li, Cynthia Phelps, and Max Zeugner. Indeed, the warm lift of Zeugner’s bass paired with Markus Rhoten’s masterful timpani laid a fine bedrock for the group. (Rhoten was a highlight throughout the evening.) Of the three works on the program, Janowski was perhaps the least engaged in the Mozart; in the second movement he ceased conducting altogether during select passages. One wonders whether he was needed at all for the serenade. As for the ensemble itself, more strings would not have hurt in a hall of this size (and perhaps would have helped to mask some of the less consistent harmonies), regardless of the historical performance concerns.
Moving to a work from 20 years later, the Philharmonic’s principal trumpet, Christopher Martin, led an excellent performance of the Haydn Trumpet Concerto. A staple of the trumpet repertoire, Martin’s velvety tone shone through on this evening. His sound is very vocal, round, dark, glowing, and vowel-like. Philip Smith, his predecessor, was equally songful, but more exuberant and directional in his playing; one might even say more New York. Throughout the performance, Janowski did a fine job of mediating between orchestra and soloist, but even Martin would interface with his colleagues in the relevant sections, engaging in a type of chamber music. From my seat in the second tier, select filigree did not come through in the technical sections, but it was a masterful performance nonetheless. The highlight was the second movement, filled with a simplicity of song, showing off Martin’s ability to sit inside the strings in perfect blend.
Following intermission, Janowski returned for a well-shaped and engaging reading of Mendelssohn’s Third Symphony, performed without pause (as Mendelssohn intended), bypassing the usual inter-movement audience shuffling. Opening the first movement with a medium to quick pace, one wonders if a more measured tempo would have been appropriate for this interior work. The allegro sections following were wave-like and select micro-changes in tempo were impressive. Missing here was dynamic range, the softs never getting quite soft enough and the louds a bit subdued. Throughout the performance Janowski was constantly adjusting balances with his left hand (somewhat odd since this was the final performance of a three-concert run). Additionally, some of the character in this movement was a bit too focused on the geometry of sound rather than the affective or spiritual. There is a great deal of (cautious, yet beautiful) piety in this music, and the reading missed that at times. The same could be said of the Adagio, which was songful but could have been even more legato and reflective in parts.
The second and fourth movements were more effective. One often takes for granted how easy it is for the Philharmonic to change styles so quickly—here the transition from the first movement to the second was superb, from a dark, interior, rounded space to one that is light, directional, and propelling. Anthony McGill, the principal clarinetist, led the movement with great authority, and the whole group engaged in the large-scale chamber music present throughout the evening. Later, in the fourth movement, the orchestra finally burst forth in some of the fortissimo sections, filling the hall nicely. Shapes and colors here were homogeneous through the group, and the medium to dark tone of the orchestra combined with nimbleness was impressive. Overall, this was the strongest performance on this evening, though I would have preferred it still darker, more interior, introspective, and spiritually expressive.