While Gianandrea Noseda's view of Respighi doesn't have much in common with that of his elder countryman, he was no less a convincing evangelist Friday afternoon. Where Muti turned the Philadelphia Orchestra into something incisive and terse, Noseda emphasized humanity. Muti was haughty, but the current Milan-born visitor to the orchestra's podium is genial.
Noseda, chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, also exhibited great precision and control in The Fountains of Rome and Roman Festivals. The latter, longer piece was the more developed interpretation, in part because the work demands it, but also for being studded with exceptionally silken solos from concertmaster David Kim, principal cellist Hai-Ye Ni, and principal hornist Jennifer Montone.
Todd Levy, principal clarinetist of the Milwaukee Symphony, was visiting (Ricardo Morales and Samuel Caviezel are on parental leave), and while he's plenty nimble and mellow, his overall presence was turned a couple of notches too low. Not so with the percussionists. Great moment of joyful pandemonium: nine of them simultaneously working their battery of instruments. Another novelty was the always-surprising entrance of the mandolin, played deftly by Patrick Mercuri.
Noseda brought to the orchestra its first encounter with Hakon Jarl, Smetana's tone poem depicting warring Christians and pagans. In some ways it's classic Smetana - angry swells of strings, trumpet calls, triangle - but it's extremely appealing for having more subtle material. Listen for the visitation from Liszt in a section of harmonic wandering.
Garrick Ohlsson, the veteran pianist who first performed with this orchestra in 1970, was the rather stunning soloist in Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 5. To look at the reserved face and upper body, Ohlsson could have been doing nothing more rote than counting out twenties from a teller's cage. Yet the sounds testified to a truth that, in solving puzzles of how his part fit with the orchestra and in the athleticism needed to do it, Ohlsson has few equals. In a section where the piano moves through a series of high glides, he synced up with two flutes precisely, even sneakily. And it was like that the whole way through: a pianism that delighted not so much in thwarting peril as in not recognizing it in the first place.
Additional performance:
At 8 p.m. Saturday in Verizon Hall, Broad and Spruce Streets. Tickets $10-$130. Information: 215-893-1999, www.philorch.org.
Contact music critic Peter Dobrin at pdobrin@phillynews.com or 215-854-561. Read his blog at www.philly.com/philly/blogs/artswatch.
Source: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/peter_dobrin/20101204_Respighi_and_remembrance.html
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