Beethoven. Master. Period.

I didn’t want to upstage the New York Times review of Missa Solemnis at the New York Philhamonic, so I left this post until after press time for the Friday paper. I love that rag and wouldn’t want to hurt their sales anymore then I already do with my massive readership.
Last night I saw my first true live classical music performance of this experiment. This seems strange to say as I am nearly 6 month in and that most of my listening experiences have been solitary (if you don’t count my iPhone as a person). Alan Gilbert conducted a new composition, Al Largo, created just for the event by Magnus Lindberg and Beethoven’s devotional Missa Solemnis.
I felt much the way the NY Times reviewer Tommasini did regarding Lindberg’s composition. I felt like I was dropped in the middle of a film score and like the title implies, out at sea without my bearings. It flowed and floated and crashed beautifully, but there was no context for me to connect with. I imagined the oil spill, growing and ascending on beach heads and marshes, coating the sea in its darkness. Ultimately it was an appetizer for the Beethoven.
Missa Solemnis is another story all together. It is a beautiful, rousing piece of music that while religious in subject seemed much more like a meditation. Rather than an awe inspiring Mass, it was a beautiful piece of music with the added richness of voice. This is probably a simplistic way to see it, but I am not a seasoned reviewer. I loved seeing the performance, all the bows stabbing at the air and the subtle wave of horns and woodwinds creeping out from behind them. If I have ever seen such an expression of true composition in person, it has most likely been in some film or epic painting.
For me the part that comes together when you see those maestros and concertmasters and position players all on the stage at once is an overwhelming sense of the composer’s mastery. Beethoven and Lindberg both used every color on the spectrum and every note that could be offered. Beethoven built a cathedral of music, maybe a bit too ornate at times, but requiring all the skill an architect can muster.

Katie Commodore's thoughts on our evening at The Philharmonic can be seen on her blog right here!

(Full Disclosure, tickets provided by the NY Philharmonic)