United States López, Shostakovich, Prokofiev: Alisa Weilerstein (cello), NYO2 / Rafael Payare (conductor). Carnegie Hall, New York, 27.7.2025. (RP)
Jimmy López – Perú Negro
Shostakovich – Cello Concerto No.1 in E-flat major
Prokofiev – Symphony No.5 in B-flat major
What a sound the NYO2 produced at its Carnegie Hall concert. If you were listening blindfolded, a reasonable guess would have been that you were hearing any one of several fine American orchestras. Only the energy might give away that the players ranged in age from 14 to 17.
Conductor Rafael Payare undoubtedly gets the credit for transforming the young musicians into such a noteworthy ensemble in a matter of days. He is a natural, no doubt due to his experience playing the horn in El Sistema, the Venezuelan social action music program to which he still devotes his talents and energy.
Having played the French horn in his youth, Payare surely delighted in NYO2’s superb horn section. It is not fair to single out an individual in an ensemble in which everyone on the stage is extraordinarily talented and playing their hearts out. Hornist Isaac Sprouls from Paris, Texas, however, does deserve a shoutout. He played the pivotal horn solos in Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No.1 with a rich amber tone and eloquence.
The first work was Jimmy López’s Perú Negro, a showstopper of exciting rhythms, exotic musical colors and great slabs of sound. Structurally, the piece hinges on a musical cipher (E, B, B-flat and G), which corresponds to the first name of conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya who conducted the 2012 premiere with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. López was inspired by Afro-Peruvian music: although Perú Negro references six Peruvian folk songs, the sixteen-minute piece is sui generis, a distillation of folklore and López’s compositional style.
Under Payare’s baton, the NYO2’s brass and percussion generated great waves of sound in Perú Negro. Snippets of melody and spirited rhythms enlivened the piece, but it was the sound of the orchestra playing loud that impressed. That isn’t necessarily the best measure of an orchestra, but the vibrancy and richness of the NYO2 at full throttle was a wonder.
Cellist Alisa Weilerstein played with her accustomed technical prowess and depth of expression in the Shostakovich. Even at her most tender and lyrical, as in the Moderato, her tone was tinged with a heartache perfectly attuned to the emotional core of the work. The Cadenza was a riveting display of virtuosic technical flights and soaring, airy melodies. Clock-like precision and intensity were the hallmarks of the NYO2’s performance, and Weilerstein’s passionate playing, abetted by some stunning moments from the strings and woodwinds, propelled the Cello Concerto to its jubilant end.
Weilerstein has made a specialty of Bach’s solo suites, which she has performed, recorded and woven together in FRAGMENTS, her multi-season solo cello project. (review here.) As an encore, she performed the Sarabande from the Cello Suite No.4. She transfixed the audience with the expression and insight with which she spun its lyrical melodies. This Bach gem was a contemplative, restful reprieve after the emotional tumult of the Shostakovich.
If Perú Negro showcased the NYO’s sound at full force, the Shostakovich provided a hint of its ability to reach equal heights in more lyrical passages. Prokofiev’s Symphony No.5 found the players at their most expressive and eloquent, especially in the haunting Adagio, one of Prokofiev’s finest and most appreciated creations. It is a repertoire staple, so best that these young players get it under their belts early on. They could have had no better mentor than Payare to guide them.
The brass and percussion reveled in the fiery climaxes of the first and fourth movements, as did the woodwinds with their splendid playing in the second one. Fine clarinet playing added further tang to the latter, as it did in the following two. When called for, the strings, especially the violins, produced silken, spinning sounds, but in the finale they joined with clarinets, horns and percussion in its lively, disjointed dances.
There was one encore: Arturo Márquez’s La Conga del Fuego Nuevo. It was also a nod to the El Sistema legacy as the piece is a favorite of its conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, who had his musical beginnings in the program. Carnegie Hall pulsated with Márquez’s take on the Afro-Cuban conga, with the ultimate joyous release of tension and excitement bring the cheering audience, once again, to its feet.
Rick Perdian