Richard Goode, Sir Colin Davis and The New York Philharmonic

Intelligence is hard thing to find in this world, even in the rarefied world of classical music, so it was with some delight that I noticed that all three concerts NYP concerts featuring conductor Sir Colin Davis and pianist Richard Goode were sold out. Mr. Davis and Mr. Goode may not be the flashiest musicians out there but the seem to consider the result of every gesture they make and the result makes you listen a little more closer to the music. This was useful since the first half of the program featured familiar pieces by Beethoven.

The first was the Leonore Overture No. 2. I always enjoy this whether played fast or slow, spirited or even perfunctory. Davis’s reading was more significant than most because he seems to remember its roots in the opera Leonore/Fidelio, which returns the music the composer’s intention in writing it. Davis places the offstage horns into the one of the upper tiers of the hall and their playing really reminds those of us who know the opera of the rescuers coming to save the day. This rendition is quite literally a condensed version of the opera, just as Beethoven meant it to be.

A piece like Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.4 is so popular it takes something

special to make it memorable. When I heard it in February played by Hélène Grimaud with The Orchestra of St. Luke’s, led by conductor Xian Zhang it was pleasant and very well played. Grimaud and Zhang are young and their interpretation reflected the energy of the young. Goode and Davis are older and have had more time to think about it. As in his celebrated CD set of the Beethoven piano sonatas every phrase Goode plays in the solos is an essay that demands your complete attention and is like a standalone work on its own. The tempo changed in each solo depending on what Goode wanted to communicate. Davis clearly was in tune with Goode’s conception and the result left the audience deeply involved with the music.

My vision of Ralph Vaughan Williams is of a perpetually old and kindly country gentleman. Listening to his Symphony No. 4 for the first time I realized he can have a knurly and angry aspect as well. The work is modern and complex and fit in very nicely with the Beethoven that made up the rest of the evening. Sir Colin is a regular visitor to New York, most years with at least a week with the New York Philharmonic and three programs with the LSO. Over the years he has introduced us to a lot of British music we may have otherwise missed, I glad he introduced us to Vaughan Williams 4^th, it rounded out an intelligent evening.