Newsgroup: it.arti.musica.classica
Titolo: Esa-Pekka Salonen e Stravinsky- NYT

Dal New York Times di oggi:
March 20, 2001
MUSIC REVIEW
Esa-Pekka Salonen Serves Stravinsky -- Breezy, Fresh and Crunchy
By ANTHONY TOMMASINI
Esa-Pekka Salonen, who is in his ninth season as music director of the Los
Angeles Philharmonic, does not patronize audiences. He is convinced that if
he and his players are excited by important and challenging contemporary
works, audiences will respond. His success in Los Angeles suggests he is
right. The orchestra's recent Stravinsky festival there drew sold-out houses
to six concerts.
This weekend Mr. Salonen presented two of those programs at Lincoln Center.
Sunday afternoon's concert by the Los Angeles Philharmonic offered all three
of the seldom-heard Stravinsky works for piano and orchestra, performed by
the brilliant pianist Olli Mustonen, and one repertory piece, "The
Firebird." The artistic consultants at most of American's major orchestras
would likely have warned Mr. Salonen against presenting such a formidable
program on tour. New York music lovers must be hungry for challenge, since
they don't get much from the New York Philharmonic. Avery Fisher Hall was
nearly full, and the final ovations were tumultuous.
Stravinsky's work for piano and orchestra are almost anti-concertos. By its
scoring alone, the Concerto for Piano and Winds (1924) is unconventional. It
presents Stravinsky in his neo-Baroque mode, though with crunchy harmony,
pummeling rhythm and craggy counterpoint. In the beguiling and stylistically
eclectic Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra (1929) Stravinsky evokes, in his
fractured way, both breezy Poulenc-like salon music and exotic modal
Hungarian gypsy dance. "Movements" for Piano and Orchestra (1959) is one of
Stravinsky's astringent and striking works in the 12-tone idiom. It's as if
an elaborate piano concerto has been compressed into 10-minutes of chiseled,
restless and elemental music.
To appreciate how seldom these works turn up, consider their performance
history at the New York Philharmonic. The orchestra played the Capriccio two
years ago under Kurt Masur, its first performance of the work since 1973; it
has never performed the other two.
Mr. Salonen and Mr. Mustonen, both being young, Finnish and composers,
proved to be natural collaborators. Their performances were integrated and
purposeful. Mr. Mustonen's very fluidic arm movements should not be taken as
a sign of pianistic flamboyance. His playing was typically incisive,
intelligent and spontaneous.
That Mr. Salonen's orchestra seemed so at home with Stravinsky's music would
not have surprised anyone who attended Friday's night's substantial chamber
music program at Alice Tully Hall by the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music
Group, which Mr. Salonen conducts. The highlight was an amazing performance
of "Abraham and Isaac," a pungent 12-tone setting of the biblical story, in
Hebrew, for baritone and chamber orchestra, here sung poignantly and with
the intensity of an Old Testament prophet by Sanford Sylvan, who performed
the formidable work from memory.
Though arresting to hear, and impressively played, Mr. Salonen's performance
of "The Firebird" ballet score would not have been easy to dance to. Once
the tempo of a section was set, it was unyielding. Episode after episode of
this familiar music seemed startlingly fresh, the result, it seemed, of a
composer/conductor's reconsideration of a score he clearly considers a
landmark of early 20th-century modernism. That Mr. Salonen's audience was no
gathering of Stravinsky fanatics became clear when the blazing climax of the
"Infernal Dance" was met with scattered applause and bravos from people in
the hall who mistakenly thought the performance was over.
As his second encore, Mr. Salonen played Stravinsky's dazzling and somewhat
mischievous arrangement of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Since people were
already on their feet for the standing ovation, they just kept standing for
the national anthem. But no one sang. They were too busy listening.

 to six concerts.
Ci vorrebbero più musicisti come Salonen.
Salonen non è l'unico GRANDE direttore vivente, ed è capace
di  reggere il confronto con i grandi del passato, la cui
discografia aumenta in continuazione grazie alla esplorazione
di polverosi archivi.  Come ho già detto, nonostante egli
incida per la SONY, non si è abbassato a squallide operazioni
commerciali come altri, indubbiamente bravissimi.
Ma il suo carisma, per me, torreggia.
saluti
 Roberto
-- 
/_/  Roberto Maria Avanzi Mocenigo  <><
_/  Institut für Experimentelle Mathematik / Universität Essen
/  "All a poet can do today is WARN" - Wilfred Owen