At long last, the concert I’d been waiting for since I heard the Philadelphia Orchestra play The Rite of Spring in September. Valery Gergiev (pictured left) conducted the Kirov Orchestra last night at the Kimmel Center in Philly, in a special one-off Stravinsky program. First they played the complete Firebird, then the Rite.
I’d been looking forward to the Rite especially, but it turned out to be the Firebird that made me want to leap from the balcony in joy. After 40 or so minutes of dark, schizoid sound, the orchestra pulled back to triple pianissimo (Kimmel acoustics: incredible) and then crept into that sublime final section (the one that prog-rockers Yes used to broadcast before taking the stage back in the ’70s). “General rejoicing” is how it’s described in Stravinsky’s road map. Peals of ecstatic thunder began to ring through the hall. When Gergiev cued the final sustained chord, he stopped his frenetic movements and just stood with his left hand out, perfectly still, as that chord grew into a roar — “home stretch, we made it,” he seemed to signal the orchestra. Then boom … the devastating final downbeat.
As I’ve noted, Gergiev conducts without a podium; he prefers to be stage level, in the thick of it. Something else I noticed at the very start of the Firebird: the ominous opening figure is played by seven double basses, but five are bowing and two are doubling pizzicato, a detail of enormous subtlety and musical consequence.
The Rite was marvelous as well, but in a battle of the bands, I have to give it to the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eschenbach — their reading had more visceral impact. Although I should note that I was sitting very close in September; last night I was in the third tier.
Another recent musical highlight: the Bowerbird “Landmarks” series, which puts improvisers into parlor-like settings in some of Philadelphia’s cozy historic buildings in the Old City district. About a month or so ago I heard Keith Rowe play live electronics at the Physick House, and this past Wednesday I heard an excellent lineup at the Powel House: first Killick, a heavily tattooed gentleman from Athens, Georgia, led a quartet and played an invented instrument called the h’arpeggione (a kind of fretted cello with sympathetic strings); then experimental banjoist Woody Sullender paired up with violinist Katt Hernandez for a thoroughly absorbing set. I’m happy to say these are the kind of evenings you can’t get in New York.
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