Ravel
Ma mere l’oye – Suite
Stravinsky
Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments
Shostakovich
Symphony No.5 in D minor, Op.47
Peter Serkin (piano)
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Stéphane Denève
Reviewed by: Gene Gaudette
Reviewed: 9 March, 2012
Venue: Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall, New York City
I’m not so sure if I liked Stéphane Denève’s approach to Ravel’s Mother Goose. The soft-edged phrasing and subtle tempo shifts didn’t serve the rhythmic or melodic beauty of the opening ‘Pavane’ (which also suffered a few ensemble lapses) or ‘Tom Thumb’ well, and some strangely rushed phrases in ‘Laideronette’ were distracting. The last two movements fared quite a bit better, with impressively evocative playing in the quieter sections.
After the Stravinsky, I was expecting a strongly characterized performance of the Fifth Symphony of Shostakovich. Denève delivered quite the opposite: a virtuoso performance that served more as a showcase for the orchestra’s strengths than a bold statement on a symphony whose meaning remains controversial. There was nobility aplenty in the opening movement, but a disappointing absence of menace or impact. The second movement was authoritatively rhythmic, but lacked a sense of irony and a twist of vulgarity. The pianissimos in the third movement were stunning in their beauty, but the early climactic crescendo provided neither the necessary catharsis nor a gateway to the passionate music that should follow. And with the exception of a moment of less-that-unified playing from the strings during a few bars of the opening, the finale was executed with virtuoso precision. Yet the entire symphony came off more as a concerto for orchestra than a chronicle of horrific times.