Alice Tully: Mannes Orchestra Performs Bartók, Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff

Yesterday the Mannes Orchestra performed its second concert this year at Alice Tully featuring Eastern European music composed in the 1940's.  The first half featured soloists playing concertos by Bartók (viola) and Shostakovich (violin).  After intermission, I heard Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances for the second time this season.  The last occasion was at Carnegie Hall with Gergiev conducting the Mariinsky Orchestra.

On the opening work, Bartók's Viola Concerto (1945) the soloist was Jesus Rodolfo Rodriguez who played the difficult music with great panache.  The program notes bio states that Mr. Rodriguez "received a Master of Music degree at Mannes, where he is currently pursuing a professional studies diploma with Paul Neubauer." Violist Neubauer is known in NYC primarily through his many performances with the Chamber Music Society, but he also collaborated with Peter Bartók on the standard edition of this concerto.  According to Wikipedia, he "edited most of the viola part."  The concerto was the last work composed by Bartók prior to his death in 1945 and was left unfinished.  The composer left behind only sketches which were then put in final form by his friend Tibor Serly in 1949.  The accuracy of Serly's edition, however, has since been questioned.

Shostakovich wrote the Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 77 in 1947-48 but it was not performed until 1955 when David Oistrakh was soloist at the Leningrad premiere.  Hence a certain confusion in opus numbering.  The delay was caused by Shostakovich's denunciation by the Soviet authorities who objected to his music on political grounds.  It was only after Stalin's death that the work could finally be performed.  Although the concerto is a very personal work, it's also a great vehicle for any violinist because it offers so many opportunities, especially in the second movement, for displays of virtuosity. The talented soloist yesterday evening was Shuaili Du, who is currently attending the Yale School of Music and who has a Master of Music degree from Mannes

The final work was Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, Op. 45.  Written in 1941, it was his last composition and arguably his best.  Over time, I've come to think of it even more highly than the Second Symphony.  Perhaps it's the sound of the alto saxophone in the first movement that so appeals to me.  At any rate, the Mannes students at Alice Tully gave it a spirited performance that was thoroughly enjoyable.  It was a fine end to an excellent concert well conducted by David Hayes.