Review: Audience squirming, throat-clearing disrupt orchestra’s tender playing
A bronchial and inattentive audience, perfunctory pianism and some muscular and tender playing by the orchestra made for a bumpy Valentine’s Day concert Friday at Knight Theater.
The Charlotte Symphony billed this program as “the perfect Valentine’s date night,” an odd designation for two narratives about couples who commit suicide and pieces by two other composers (Beethoven and Chopin) who never achieved long-term romantic happiness. But when the musicians played with care and devotion, we shared their love for the music.
Most of us did, anyhow. After the intermission, music director Christopher Warren-Green opened with “The Walk to the Paradise Garden,” an orchestral interlude from Frederick Delius’ opera “A Village Romeo and Juliet.” Some concertgoers, unfamiliar with this slow and mournful piece, squirmed in their seats like bored schoolchildren while coughing and sneezing indiscriminately. They overlooked a performance of unusual delicacy by an orchestra that too seldom plays Delius.
The obtrusive hacking had actually begun long before, a few moments into the concert’s opening piece. The distressed Warren-Green quickly stopped Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet Overture” to suggest concert etiquette to the wheezers. When he resumed, moving at a slightly faster tempo amid fewer throat-clearings, he delivered a slow-burning but eventually fiery version. Warren-Green practiced restraint at first, reminding us these passions mostly come from the first families of Verona, not brawling peasants. By the end, the tragedy resonated.
Then Gabriela Martinez loped monochromatically through Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1, pushed forward briskly by Warren-Green’s businesslike tempos. The majesty of the first movement, the dreamy poetry of the second, the humor and quirkiness of the third all eluded the soloist. She rolled steadily on with virtually no variations in mood or tone, an unhelpful approach to a 40-minute concerto that often repeats itself and requires scrupulous attention to subtleties.
Luckily, everything came together in the night’s finale. Warren-Green has always had intelligent ideas about Beethoven, so the year-long celebration of his upcoming 250th birthday has already brought a lot of pleasure. The CSO played the terse Eighth Symphony Friday with clarity, excitement, flashes of wit, unhurried vigor and drive.
The symphony will announce its full 2020-2021 season Sunday, but Warren-Green promised from the podium that we’ll hear Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and the rarely performed Triple Concerto for piano, violin and cello, among many pieces by the birthday boy. Good news lies ahead.
If You’re Going
The concert repeats Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. at Knight Theater, 430 S. Tryon St. Tickets range from $19 to $217, with a $15 student rush Sunday. Details: 972-2000 or charlottesymphony.org.
This story is part of an Observer underwriting project with the Thrive Campaign for the Arts, supporting arts journalism in Charlotte.
This story was originally published February 15, 2020 at 10:47 AM.