If nothing else, Antonin Dvorak should be remembered as the first serious composer to recognize the contributions of Afro-American and Native American music to American culture. Perhaps because he was only a visitor here, his European sensibilities were not blinded by the racism that even today keeps Americans from an appreciation of these sources. Certainly, in his 9th Symphony, Dvorak did not hesitate to quote these influences in his sweeping tribute to the "New World" just as he had previously incorporated elements of Bohemian folk music in his Slavonic Dances. And his music is all the richer for that. Very few other orchestral works capture so well the American spirit as does this piece, which was premiered by the Philharmonic under Anton Seidl at Carnegie Hall in 1893.
I had never previously heard of Andrey Boreyko and was, quite frankly, not expecting too much from a holiday replacement. (Alan Gilbert had originally been scheduled to conduct yesterday's Saturday matinee.) But though Boreyko's style on the podium was a bit mannered, he led the orchestra through an extremely sharp and rousing performance of the Dvorak that was among the best I'd heard of this particular work. I'm looking forward to hearing him conduct again, whether with the Philharmonic or another orchestra.
The opening piece, Brahms' Op. 34, the Piano Quintet in F minor, was well served by members of the Philharmonic and Emanuel Ax, this season's artist in residence with the orchestra. I have an incredible recording of this work by the Guarneri Quartet with Artur Rubinstein that I play often and that serves me as a benchmark in evaluating other performances. The Philharmonic members, if they did not quite attain this level, still came very close, anchored by the formidable musicianship of Glenn Dicterow on first violin and ably assisted by Sheryl Staples, Cynthia Phelps and Carter Brey. Ax, though never my favorite pianist, was yesterday quite excellent in his accompaniment.
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