SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Other Links

Editorial Board

Google Site Search

Opening Night of Carnegie Hall's 118th Season: Dawn Upshaw (soprano), Christine Ebersole (vocalist), Thomas Hampson (baritone), Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Drama and Vocal Arts Students from the Juilliard School, Michael Tilson Thomas (conductor), San Francisco Symphony, Carnegie Hall, 24.9.2008 (BH)

All-Bernstein:
Symphonic Dances from West Side Story (1961)
Music from A Quiet Place (1983)
"I Can Cook, Too" from On the Town (1944)
"Meditation No. 1" from Mass (1971)
"What a Movie" from Trouble in Tahiti (1951)
"To What You Said…" from Songfest (1977)
"Danzón" from Fancy Free (1944)
"Gee, Officer Krupke" from West Side Story (1957)
"Ya Got Me" from On the Town (1944)


Birthday parties don't get much grander than the one Carnegie Hall threw last night for Leonard Bernstein, who would have been 90 on August 25.  And as party hosts go, they don't come more charismatic than conductor Michael Tilson Thomas.  Not only did he coax a festive mood from the San Francisco Symphony and a stellar set of guests, but he even got the audience to join in the fun in a genuinely festive opening to Carnegie's 118th season.

The all-Bernstein program began with Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, the composer's distillation of arguably his most popular score.  Choosing moderate tempos, Tilson Thomas which allowed the music to swing but not at a breakneck pace, giving a luxurious feel and showing off the orchestra's expert brass and percussion sections.  With the "Mambo" in my head done by Gustavo Dudamel and his Venezuelan youth orchestra, I appreciated Tilson Thomas and the ensemble offering a more relaxed confidence, executing Bernstein's jazzy, Latin-infused passages with complete precision.  It might have been the best version of this piece I've heard live.

A Quiet Place continues the story from Trouble in Tahiti, and Tilson Thomas cracked, "No way we're going to be able to airbrush [Bernstein] into some kind of avuncular, Jewish Santa Claus," perhaps alluding to this work's relative unpopularity.  (I don't recall ever hearing any of the score.)  Thomas Hampson gave "You're Late" a searching unease, Upshaw was soaring in "Morning, Good Morning," and the orchestra had its own interesting bookends, the Prologue and Postlude to Act I.

After intermission Christine Ebersole sashayed out for a sassy version of "I Can Cook, Too" from On the Town, and I almost wish she had foregone using a microphone.  As a Broadway star, she may be more comfortable with one, but she certainly doesn't need it.  Then in a dramatic mood switch, Yo-Yo Ma was the soloist in the brooding "Meditation No. 1" from Mass (which Carnegie will present twice in the coming weeks as part of its Bernstein festival).  Upshaw returned for "What a Movie!" from Trouble in Tahiti, and sounded even better than she does in the version on her Nonesuch recording (The World So Wide) with sunny tone and precise attacks.  It's a wordy thing, and if not all of the lyrics always came through, that was probably due to Bernstein's enormous orchestra, which can overpower even a strong soloist.  Hampson and Ma returned, sounding fresh in "To What You Said" from Songfest, and then the orchestra had another solo turn in the exuberant "Danzón" from Fancy Free.

But like a true showman, Tilson Thomas saved some of the best for the very end.  Five talented Juilliard students—Gabriel Ebert, Carlton Ford, Paul LaRosa, Kelly Markgraf and Zack Villa—danced and smirked their way through "Gee, Officer Krupke," adroitly choreographed and directed by Jeanne Slater, and arguably the hit of the evening.  And finally Tilson Thomas led the entire guest roster in "Ya Got Me," from On the Town, deftly swiveling on the podium to cue the audience in the chorus and perhaps most surprising, even singing himself.  At least for the moment, he seemed like the world's most debonair nightclub proprietor.

Bruce Hodges


^{Back to Top                                                    Cumulative Index Page}