Elgar's First is an intense delightRichard Dyer, Boston Globe, February 27, 2006Posted: 2006-02-27 11:13:15 Elgar's First Symphony was the first great romantic symphony by an Englishman. It has had worthy successors by Elgar himself, Vaughan Williams, Michael Tippett, Peter Maxwell Davies, and possibly Arnold Bax. But it hasn't ever been surpassed.
When it was new, the First became an international sensation; it was played 82 times in its first season or two, and in eight countries. It has become an iconic work in England; the Boston Symphony performed it under Andre Previn, but not at all recently.
Orchestras like the Boston Philharmonic seldom attempt it because it is technically and stylistically demanding. But there aren't many orchestras "like" the Boston Philharmonic -- a mixture of amateurs, advanced students, and professionals -- and this is music conductor Benjamin Zander must feel in his bones. Saturday night's performance was intense. Zander was responsive to the breadth and nobility of the work and to the ways in which the composer questions and undermines those Elgarian qualities. The great adagio was consoling, but much of the rest expresses human realities that require consolation. And the orchestra really blazed through it.
The influence of Beethoven is strong in Elgar, so it was an interesting idea to pair the symphony with Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto. The Canadian pianist Jon Kimura Parker gave it a puzzling performance, although one that roused the audience to great enthusiasm. Parker operates at opposite extremes of tempo and of dynamics without exploring much in the significant territory in between; he seems more interested in playing the piano than in playing the music. His work has accuracy, power, stamina, and drive, although there is color only when he is playing quietly and slowly -- and he took the slow movement very slowly, although Michael Steinberg's program note cautioned against this common mistake. He was most convincing in articulating the rhythm and character of the finale, but even there he found moments for vulgar display. Zander and the orchestra suggested other possibilities.
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