The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony led by David Bernard

David Bernard has a very impressive memory, as he conducted the entire program—including the concerto and a fairly difficult Copland work—without a score. Beethoven’s sixth symphony was a fitting choice since they did the fifth last year. Is the seventh on the horizon for next season? Most of the movements’ tempos were a bit too slow for my taste and the winds sometimes got out of sync.—the horn also cracked several times—but the exciting storm movement sounded terrific; even the second violin section’s famously treacherous eighth-note passage (simulated rain drops) was polished to excellence.

Copland’s notoriously difficult “Appalachian Spring” Suite needs and seemed to have gotten plenty of rehearsal time, and it paid off; the orchestra played it very well. My only peeves were brass playing that was behind the strings in the first big orchestral passage (do they have enough rehearsal time in the church to get used to the distant surroundings and the time lag, etc.?), and a famously tricky 2/4 and 5/8 section involving piano, double basses and syncopated trombones that became unhinged. But most difficult moments went very smoothly.  This time–opposed to the Beethoven—the tempos were atypically fast, but they correlated with each other well. The opening A’s were unusually and nicely poised, the closing chorale section was phrased beautifully, and the last three glockenspiel and harp notes were perfect.

Pedro Diaz, the solo English horn player at the MET, performed elegantly and exquisitely on the oboe in Cimarosa’s Oboe Concerto. Purity and sweetness of tone plus precise articulation were in evidence. Bernard and the orchestra performed sensitively and were with Diaz all the way.

The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony titled their varied and immensely enjoyable program “Springtime Serenade”, and that brings up a subject for debate: the necessity of program titles. Many Orchestras try to find a gimmick such as headliners or catch-phrases to make the concert more inviting, but is a contrived title the right gimmick?  In this case, we are well into autumn and the orchestra’s delightfully contrasting program consisting of Beethoven’s “Pastorale Symphony”, Cimarosa’s Oboe Concerto, and Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” has one third of its program entrenched in spring, but is not worthy of a program title devoted to it.  I see Vivaldi’s “Seasons” coming up on a December PACS program (I look forward to that); if the Spring Concerto had been previewed here, you have a bigger reason to hint at spring in a title—maybe. Beethoven’s “Pastorale” could be about fall as much as spring or summer; in his description, Beethoven talks about feelings upon arriving in the country, etc., but is non-specific with regards to a season. Concert program titles tend to be limiting, especially when the programming is as varied and innovative as Mr. Bernard’s. The title: ‘Beethoven’s Pastorale, Copland’s Appalachian Spring and MET soloist Pedro Diaz’ would sell lots of tickets without any added gloss.

On a program page listing future concerts, ‘Jazzy Classics’ is the title of a terrific program that features Shostakovich’s 6^th Symphony, Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and a recent Jazz composition by Ted Rosenthal, but one of their website pages avoids the label ‘Jazzy Classics’, which is good. After all, the excellent and immensely enjoyable Shostakovich 6th symphony is not jazzy nor widely considered a classic, and Ted Rosenthal’s world premiere piece entitled “Jazz Fantasy” is not a classic—yet. But it is great that the orchestra is performing those works and I hope many people attend. I certainly look forward to it.