Sublime Martinů and glorious Saint-Saëns from The Philadelphia Orchestra

United StatesUnited States Bartók, Martinů, Saint-Saëns: Choong-Jin Chang (viola), Raphael Attila Vogl (organ), The Philadelphia Orchestra / Roderick Cox (conductor). Marian Anderson Hall, Philadelphia, 13.10.2024. (RP)

Roderick Cox (conductor) and Choong-Jin Chang (viola) with the Philadelphia Orchestra © Rick Perdian

Bartók – Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin, Op.19
Martinů – Rhapsody-Concerto for viola and orchestra, H337
Saint-Saëns – Symphony No.3 in C minor, Op.78 (‘Organ’)

I often hear The Philadelphia Orchestra with music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting in New York at Carnegie Hall. In earlier days, I regularly attended the orchestra’s concerts in its former home, the Academy of Music, when Riccardo Muti was at the helm. However, I had never heard a live performance of Saint-Saëns’s ‘Organ Symphony’ anywhere until this concert in Philadelphia.

There is no possibility of it happening in New York with an orchestra of this caliber in such a setting: neither Carnegie Hall nor Geffen Hall has a real (i.e. pipe) organ. Marian Anderson Hall, where the Philadelphia Orchestra now plays, has a magnificent one. Built by Dobson Pipe Organ Builders, the instrument has two consoles with four manuals, 97 ranks and 124 stops, and is the largest mechanical action pipe organ in an American concert hall.

Roderick Cox was the guest conductor. The winner of the 2018 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award, Cox made his debut with the orchestra in January 2023. He has an active career in the Americas and in Europe, conducting top orchestras as well as working in opera. This season, Cox is the Music Director of Opéra Orchestre National de Montpellier Occitanie.

It is clear why Cox is making waves as a conductor. He cuts a trim, authoritative figure on the podium, and his command of a score is complete. With a minimum of motion, he communicates his attentions effectively to the musicians, and they respond in kind with nuanced playing charged with energy and excitement.

The first work on the program was Bartók’s Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin, which he crafted from his so-called ‘pantomime grotesque’ ballet. Its lurid and violent storyline was not popular with the public or critics when it debuted in 1926 in Cologne, but Bartók considered the score one of his best. He arranged the orchestra suite the following year.

Cox led a brilliant performance of the Bartók that was full of energy, color and drama. There were excellent solo turns by principal clarinetist Ricardo Morales and principal trombonist Nitzan Haroz. The lyrical moments were played with feeling and beauty, but the highlight of this performance was without doubt the sound of the full orchestra, complete with cymbals crashing and exquisite brass dissonances.

Martinů’s Rhapsody-Concerto for viola and orchestra was a complete contrast to the violent emotions of the Bartók. The piece was commissioned by the Ukrainian-born, American viola player Jascha Veissi, who premiered it in 1953 with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra.

The composer described the Rhapsody-Concerto as his move from ‘geometry’ to ‘fantasy” in terms of his ever-evolving compositional style. The two-movement work is lyrical and calm, especially Martinů’s extremely sensitive writing for the solo viola. Choong-Jin Chang, the orchestra’s principal violist, played Martinů’s long, spinning melodies with simplicity, grace and a lean, beautiful tone. When virtuosity was in order, Chang rose to the challenge.

Roderick Cox conducts organist Raphael Attila Vogl and The Philadelphia Orchestra © Rick Perdian

Raphael Attila Vogl was the organist in the Saint-Saëns. Born in Germany and currently a doctoral student at Juilliard, Vogl has performed in concert halls and cathedrals across Europe and America. In addition to his starring role in the Organ Symphony, Voigt was heard earlier as part of the complex, colorful musical textures of the Bartók.

The composer, who himself was a superb organist, did not intend the symphony to be a showpiece for the organ. It was others who gave it the nickname by which it is popularly known. Sir Arthur Sullivan conducted the premiere in London with the Royal Philharmonic Society to great acclaim. After the symphony’s first performance in Paris, Gounod declared its composer to be the ‘French Beethoven’.

Cox led a performance that was as measured as it was magnificent. The haunting lyricism of the opening measures yielded to ominous, fast-charging playing from the strings. Tension prevailed, as Cox maintained a brisk pace while letting the smallest musical details emerge as clearly as the most thrilling playing from the brass.

The highly anticipated C major chord in the organ, perhaps the most famous moment of the work, resounded through the hall. Cox led a gripping account of the ensuing coda with trumpets blazing and eloquent string playing, together with delicacy and sparkle from four hands at the piano.

In the final measures of the performance, the organ was not so much heard as felt. The reverberations of the organ’s great 32-foot pipes together with the rolling beat of the timpani provided a visceral experience that you had to be there to appreciate.

Rick Perdian

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