PSO Premiere of a Contemporary Piece by Carlos Simon; Matthias Goerne Delivers Wagnerian Excerpts in Excellent Voice
By George B. Parous
Music lovers who braved trudging into the frigid temperatures last evening, were treated to a splendid concert given by Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Honeck received a hearty welcome on his return, the first part of the program was enthusiastically applauded; while the all-Wagner second part, with Matthias Goerne returning, as guest vocalist, was received with an enormous ovation, punctuated from all parts of Heinz Hall with ringing cheers – roars, actually, that clearly indicated there is a public in this area that would love more Wagner, even an occasional German opera – sung in German – that goes unsatisfied, or mainly so, year in, year out.
The concert began with a brief piece, Fate Now Conquers, composed by Carlos Simon, a young American composer born in Atlanta. Mr. Simon was inspired to write the piece by a notation from the ancient Greek epic poem, attributed to Homer, that Ludwig van Beethoven made in an 1815 notebook, beginning:
“But Fate now conquers; I am hers; and yet not she shall share
“In my renown; that life is left to every noble spirit
“And that some great deed shall beget that all lives shall inherit.”
Eventually the day will come when we no longer say “the premiere was postponed by the pandemic,” but that day is not yet here. Commissioned by, and originally to be played by the Philadelphia Orchestra in the infamous month of March 2020, we know that didn’t happen, because not much of anything did. By October 2020, it was “digitally” premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Last evening’s Pittsburgh Symphony premiere, of a piece running five minutes, received a brilliant reception, but the first hearing of a new work can’t be discussed very effectively. As the composer has said: “We know that Beethoven strived to overcome many obstacles in his life and documented his aspirations to prevail, despite his ailments. Whatever the specific reason for including this particularly profound passage from the Iliad, in the end, it seems that Beethoven relinquished [himself] to fate. Fate now conquers.” His opening of the program last evening had the air of conquest to it, in that the listeners would mostly like to hear it again.
Next up and finishing the first half was Ludwig van Beethoven’s famous Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Opus 67. If there are new accolades to heap on this time-honored classic, I don’t have them, but one short paragraph shamelessly lifted from the program might suffice: “The opening gesture establishes the stormy temper of the Allegro with the motive from which the entire movement grows; the second theme is a gentle variant of the opening Motive. The development is a paragon of cohesion, logic and concision. The recapitulation begins after a series of breathless chords passed between woodwinds and strings.” Choosing the opening Allegro con brio is an appropriate spot to discuss, because it’s the part everyone has heard at least a portion of, whether they know it or not. For the rest, Honeck conducted in his usual masterly and vivacious style, and the huge group of instrumentalists on the stage played with precision and the sense of “oneness” that always distinguishes a PSO performance.
The second half of the program, when Honeck returned to the stage with Mr. Goerne, the audience broke into a roar, knowing the rest of the night was going to be Wagner, Wagner and more Wagner, with Mr. Goerne singing through three of the five excerpts to follow. This wasn’t the first time I’d heard Goerne sing with the PSO, but it was certainly the best I’d ever heard him sing before. He began to sing, as soon as the applause died, the unusually excerpted piece from Tristan und Isolde – König Markes “Selbstgespräch,” monologue or soliloquy, after interrupting the title lovers in the magnificent Act II love duo. Critic after critic will call this scene the most boring part of the music-drama, and it is, if sung by a boring vocalist; usually a bass. Mr. Goerne, who is anything but boring, has a baritone voice that remains in fine shape, and was quite able to encompass the wide range of the score and express the disappointment and betrayal of the aging King,
Matthias Goerne, Manfred Honeck, and the PSO
The PSO then played the ethereal and heart-breakingly powerful finale of the same music-drama. For those who like “Wagner without words,” this piece is heaven on earth. For those who prefer the text pouring from a soprano’s throat along with the music, their minds’ ears hear with the opening measures, “Mild und leise, wie er lächelt, wie das Auge hold er öffnet, – seht ihr’s, Freunde?” – and so on until her final F# floats over the audience and the orchestra brings the music-drama to a glorious, moving conclusion. But there was no soprano on the stage last night, so Honeck and the PSO’s exquisite delivery had to do. It was played with mounting beauty to the great climax.
Mr. Goerne then came forward to sing another excerpt representing Wagner near the beginning of his career, Die Frist ist um (“The term Is Up”), from Der fliegende Holländer, one of Wagner’s early successes. The music-drama, conceived by Wagner to be played as one act with several scenes, apparently is massively popular in Pittsburgh; last evening’s performance of the excerpt sung and played was the second time since 1899, and the entire music-drama sails down one of our rivers every ten or twenty years. Goerne did some of his finest singing in this excerpt, and the orchestra played with its usual precision.
Truth be told, Wagner’s works don’t take kindly to nipping and tucking here, pruning there, to serve up as concert pieces – the composer wrote his dialogue as one continuous poem to be sung with orchestral accompaniment that never ends until the act comes to an end. With a world class singer and orchestra, Der fliegende Holländer and Tristan und Isolde, and a few others of Wagner’s works can occasionally be served up in cities such as Pittsburgh, where admirers of the composer have no choice but to take, at least in live performances, the little that’s dished out to them. Die Walküre, two extractions of which closed the program, are a different matter.
Die Walküre, complete, is technically an excerpt; it’s one of four music-dramas that go together to tell in musical tones the colossal tale of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen saga. Last night’s program was an excellent example of how Die Walküre can take a beating on the concert stage. The famous Ride of the Valkyries, from the third and final act of the music-drama, has a collection of eight sopranos and mezzo-sopranos (usually wielding spears and shields) hollering at each other in song, and never comes to the grand climax and finish that the concert piece does – the eight singers are simply joined by two more sopranos. But, stripped of the singers and with some imagination, the “Ride” would make a perfect conclusion for a concert. But it comes before Mr. Goerne’s turn to sing Wotan’s Farewell and Magic Fire Music, so they had to be in order – played and sung magnificently by the stage full of talent. The last piece, incidentally, was the PSO at its very best. The climax that builds and builds and crashes to a soul-numbing finale, and allowed Goerne some memorable moments, may have been the best of the evening.
Manfred Honeck and Matthias Goerne
I am not totally condemning the piecemeal presentation of Richard Wagner’s works, certainly not when the music is in the hands of talent such as Goerne’s, Honeck’s and the PSO’s. I desperately sat through the first two parts of Jonathan Dove’s obscene annihilation of “The Ring” cycle (the concluding chapters of which were chopped and jabbed into a single concert, which was mercifully killed off, a few summers ago). Anyone who survives that painfully dreary experience, can take a Wagner excerpt here and there. And, as mentioned, it appears that is all Pittsburgh’s destined to hear.
The concert is one not to miss. Visit the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for more information and tickets. The concert will be repeated tonight at 8:00, and tomorrow afternoon at 2:30. Grab the biggest dose of Wagner you’re likely to be offered in years, and hear it, Honeck, Simon, Beethoven, and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
Photography by Julie Goetz
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