A RARELY HEARD SYMPHONY TRUMPS AN OFT-HEARD RHAPSODY
It never makes sense to me why Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3 is still not in the popular orchestral repertoire. Yes, it is approximately 20 minutes shorter than his 
other Symphonies – No. 1 (1896) and No. 2 (1908) – containing three instead of four movements. It was also composed in 1936 after his composing played second fiddle to his decades-long stint as a popular pianist. In that time of slender output, the Russian’s work evolved into what annotator Herbert Glass calls “a leaner and meaner style from that of the sprawling, yearning pre-WWI scores on which his reputation rested.”
Thus, the No. 3 lacks those sustained Tchaikovsky-esque melodies; instead, the work opens with a “motto,” after which a theme slowly kicks in. But both motto and theme float in and out of the orchestrations and, as evidenced at Disney Hall last night with the LA Philharmonic, it’s a thrill not just to listen for the melody – sometimes appearing for just a few measures – but to watch it bounce throughout the instruments: Ah! There it is in the reeds. There it is in the strings.
Italian Maestro Gianandrea Noseda, who led a definitive 2011 BBC Philharmonic recording of No.3 on the Chandos label, outdid himself by energizing the players with his playful, jovial, passionate and emotional leadership, shining a light on the aural feast which is the Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44. Noseda’s entire being swayed and sprang as if at any moment his sheer joy would turn to dancing at the podium. After witnessing the astounding results of Vassily Sinaisky’s emotional authority of Holst’s The Planets a few weeks ago and the mixed results of Christoph Eschenbach’s detached, almost wooden, conducting of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 the week before, I’m beginning to have a new appreciation for the loving, exuberant and expressive conductors reminiscent of Bernstein.
Noseda’s nonaggressive approach which began the first movement soon turned to a series of pulsating, stormy and sweeping gesticulations, mirroring the theme’s expansion; Noseda even managed to bring a harrowing sense to the movement; if this were composed for cinema, you might picture a captain clinging to the wheel of his ship, perilously close to capsizing in choppy waters. The second movement leans towards sentimental, aided by the mournful playing of Lou Anne Neill on harp, Eric Overholt on horn and Concertmaster Martin Chalifour; but this central part builds from Adagio to Allegro Vivace – it’s almost two movements in one – which scholars assert is a symphonic invention for Rachmaninoff, whose newer economy of sound is most evident in the finale, which had the obsessively energetic Noseda dashing to the festive finish with assurance. The almost 40-minute piece seemed to begin and end in a moment. The Symphony may have been criticized when first presented by Leopold Stokowski conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra, but modern audiences will find it a revelation, especially in this rendition (it plays through Saturday).
Speaking of a cinematic sound, the program opened with Rachmaninoff’s 1909 symphonic tone poem, Isle of the Dead. As we learned in Anthony Romero’s Upbeat Live pre-concert talk, the story illustrated in this work – that of Death rowing a coffin and its owner toward its destiny – was inspired by Arnold Böcklin’s painting of the same name. Throughout its 20-minutes, Rachmaninoff alludes to the Dies Irae plainchant, a reference to death. Noseda, who made his Walt Disney Concert Hall debut on Thursday, took full advantage of the 5/8 meter (ONE-two, ONE-two-three) with an almost operatic grandeur, emphasizing the depiction of breathing. Containing a funereal tone, the work can often become dolorous, but Noseda stressed the bittersweet nature of life and death; watching the Maestro heave to and fro may have you believing that his passion could actually raise the dead.
The titular artist of the program was 24-year-old French pianist Lise de la Salle, who played the enduring and rightfully popular Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (1934) written for solo piano and orchestra. The 24 variations – based on the last of Niccolò Paganini’s Caprices for solo violin – closely resembles a piano concerto and offers the opportunity for a tour de force performance from a pianist. While de la Salle sliced through some of the trickier passages, many of her notes received equal weight and there was a paucity of emotion, which may simply be due to her youth. While she is no doubt a technically proficient and exciting performer, she definitely needs more shading and soulfulness. Also troubling was the overused pedal, which may have been used to compensate for the clarity in fingering. The rushed sense from Noseda, which was completely appropriate for the Symphony, did not play as well in some of the passages, most notably the eighteenth variation, well-known for Rachmaninoff’s exceptional achievement in inverting Paganini’s theme to create a heartbreakingly romantic melody (which was used to great advantage in the film Somewhere in Time). Even though a virtuosic rendering was not acheived, this remains a remarkable, lovely and enchanting work, perfectly-suited for this all-Rachmaninoff program.
The best way to sum up the night: Come for the Rhapsody, stay for the Symphony.
photos of Gianandrea Noseda from other concerts
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Lise de la Salle plays Rachmaninoff
Walt Disney Concert Hall
scheduled to end on February 2, 2013
for tickets, call 323.850.2000 or visit LAPhil
